Soul REBORN!
by King Disen
Summary: Tsunayoshi Sawada had made three failed attempts to get into the DWMA because he failed to find his meister partner. This was because he was known as no good, or Dame-Tsuna to most of Death City. It seemed that no one would be willing to partner with him, or so he thought. I do not own Soul Eater or Hitman Reborn.
1. Chapter 1: Weapons and Meisters

Weapons and Meisters

Death City was not your normal city, if you couldn't tell by the name. This gothic metropolis was literally governed by the grim reaper himself. And while the people there may seem normal at a first glance, they were used to the abnormal more than anywhere else. There was a school there that trained students to hunt down evil souls, called kishin eggs. When people stray from the right path and lose their morality, they run the risk of of of turning into a kishins, dangerous creatures full of madness. After the first kishin was born, Death sealed it away and formed this school to ensure that no more kishins were ever born.

The school enrolled meisters, normal people who were experienced with weapons, and weapons themselves, who were special individuals who had the ability to transform into a weapon. The school paired meisters and weapons in teams based on how well their souls matched, and gave them the ultimate goal of collecting ninety-nine kishin eggs and one witch soul to make the weapon a death scythe, at least that's what they called it, despite most weapons not being scythes.

A teen with gravity defying, fluffy brown hair walked through the street, his brown eyes staring down at the ground. His name was Tsunayoshi Sawada, but most people called him Dame-Tsuna. In japanese, dame ment no good, so it wasn't very good for the boys self esteem. Not that everyone in Death City was japanese, but when Tsuna transferred from Japan to Death City some of the older students form his old school also came to enroll in the Death Weapon Meister Academy, better known as the DWMA. Between their rumors and Tsuna's clumsy nature and terrible grades, it didn't take long for it to catch on.

However today he was on his way to the DWMA himself. This was his fourth attempt to enroll. It wasn't that he failed the exam, well at least not the second two times, but as a weapon, he needed to find a meister, and no one wanted to partner with Dame-Tsuna. It didn't help the he was just a plain old katana, most people were looking for something flashier, or at least better looking. He recently received a passing grade on his entrance exam, but not a single point higher, and now the school had the next week set up to have students meet each other and partner up. Meisters without a weapon would be allowed to enroll in basic classes as extra curricular to their primary education while the looked for a weapon, as long as they showed extreme promise with a normal weapon. Weapons on the other hand, had to prove that they can at least put up a fight on their own. This this exception was only added in the last decade or so, after a man named Justin Law became a Death Scythe on his own, proving it was possible. Tsuna always thought that he must have learned out of desperation. After all, you'd be hard pressed to find someone that could wield a guillotine into battle. He once wondered if he could do the same, but then thought that he would be lucky to cut a piece of paper in two without help, given his clumsy, pathetic nature.

He was hoping that he'd find a partner this year before the new students found out about him. And if they were already partners, there was a chance that he or she wouldn't abandon him. "Wishful thinking," he said with a sigh.

He climbed the stairs to the school, a large building in the middle of the city that was made of several black towers with red cones on top and had a skull in the front that had red spikes coming out of the nose and eye holes. There was also giant candles angled slightly upwards from the ground. There was a crowd of new students in front of the DWMA currently, mingling with each other and some of older students. Tsuna started to shake, he wasn't very good at talking to people, especially in a crowd. Still he had to try, if he didn't, one of the older students would be sure to recognize him. He took one step forward and immediately tripped over his own foot, falling face first onto the ground. The crowd went silent as Tsuna got back up and dusted off his orange and white sweatshirt and jeans. "Oh, it's just you, Dame-Tsuna," a boy said.

"Dame?" another student asked.

"It means no good,"

"I heard that it's fourth time trying to get in,"

"Really? He failed that many times?"

"I don't know, I think he was here last year, so maybe he just can't find a partner."

"Yeah, but who can blame him. I heard that he only got a sixty on his test."

"Sixty? Isn't that like… the minimum you need to pass?"

"Yeah, if he took it four times already, you'd think he'd have the answers memorized."

"That's why we call him dame."

As time went on, more and more of the crowd joined in on the gossip and laughter. "Maybe next year," Tsuna said quietly as he began to sniffle, giving up on finding a partner. After all, it was only a matter of time before the whole school knew. Tsuna turned around with his eyes squeezed shut and ran down the stairs.

"Hey, wait," he heard a boy call out, but Tsuna didn't stop. He had heard enough for one day.

* * *

A boy with short, black spiky hair and brown eyes was standing in the crowd in front of the DWMA. He was a potential meister and since he had a athletic build and was the son of a master swordsman, weapons were practically swarming the poor guy. Not that he minded. He just stood there smiling and laughing as the weapons showed off their weapon forms. They were all very impressive, but none of them seemed to click with the boy.

There was a loud thud and the crowd went silent… for about ten seconds before gossip started spreading like wildfire. The boy just rolled his eye's at it. He never really liked gossip. He just stood there until one line caught his attention.

"I heard that he only got a sixty on his test," one of the student's commented.

"Someone else scored that low," the boy whispered. While he was an amazing athlete, his grades were less than stellar.

"What was that Takeshi?" One of the weapons asked.

"Oh, nothing," the boy, Takeshi Yamamoto, answered.

"Yeah, if he took it four times already, you'd think he'd have the answers memorized," the gossip continued.

"That's why we call him dame."

That's when Takeshi herd the sniffles and was filled rage. His eyes quickly found an opening it the crowd and he ran right through it. Dame, the japanese word for no good. How could anyone use that to describe someone's existence. And right in front of them too. He reached the stairs and saw a figure getting further and further away. "Hey, wait," he called out, but it was too late. The kid either didn't hear him or didn't care.

* * *

Tsuna somehow made it to the bottom of the stairs without tripping and rolling halfway down. He bent over and leaned on his knees, out of breath. He felt water coming from his eyes and lifted one arm to wipe the tears away. "Their right, I am no good, useless!" he cried. He already accepted that long ago but it never stop hurting when he tried to fight it away and it just came right back and hit in the face. Wiping away the tears once more, he continued to run away from the school, panting until he couldn't anymore. He collapsed to the ground, breathless.

"You look like you could use something drink," a man said. Tsuna looked up to see an older man with blond hair and brown eyes. His name was Shio, practically every teen that has lived in Death City long enough knew him. Tsuna looked up and saw he was in front of Shio's, a quick service restaurant. It was a small hang out in the city for some of the teens. The place's food was alright, but what it was known for was it's juices. They were all freshly squeezed and frankly delicious. Tsuna bought one once, when he failed to find a partner the first time, but he swore he'd never splurge like that again.

"I'm sorry, but I really need to save my money," Tsuna was on his own in Death City, and his only income was his mother's monthly checks, and since she was also on a low income that wasn't much. Still she was an amazing cook and could make alot of food on her small wasn't so lucky.

Still, even though they're far apart, his mother sent him money, recipes and advice every month. That was way more than he could say for his father, who was god knows where, doing nothing. The last letter Tsuna received from his mom contained a postcard and a note that read _Look what your father sent us_. The postcard had a picture of his dad in in Antarctica with some penguins. Something Tsuna found awfully suspicious for the supposed construction worker.

"Oh don't worry about paying, this one's on me." Shio said with smile and held out a cup of freshly squeezed orange juice.

Tsuna looked at the juice suspiciously, he was never this lucky. "What's the catch?" he asked.

"No catch son, I just can't ignore an upset kid like yourself." Tsuna remembered a rumor that Shio had a sort of sixth sense that told him when people weren't feeling right, and was usually able to guess what caused it. Not that he would have needed to use it on Tsuna. His face was an absolute wreck.

Tsuna turned over and sat down on the ground before taking the juice and sipping at it quietly. Shio soon sat down next to him. "So what's your name kid?" he asked.

Tsuna froze. No everyone knew the face but everyone the spent enough time around teenagers know the name. "Tsunayoshi," he gave his full name, hoping Shio wouldn't content the dots.

"Tsunayoshi," Shio said slowly. "So Tsuna for short?"

Tsuna gulped. "Y...yes,"

"Don't worry Tsuna," Shio said gently. "You won't hear any of that name calling from me.

Tsuna looked at him in awe. He knew. He knew and didn't care. "Th..thanks," Tsuna said softly.

"Let an old man give you some advice. Don't give up, as long as you keep fighting, you havn't lost. Besides if they're willing to turn their back on you so easily, you wouldn't have been able to sync with them anyway."

Tsuna gave a little smile. "I guess you're right."

"Also, weren't you here about two years ago with the same issue."

Tsuna blinked. "How did you remember?"

"I never forget a face. And you probably heard that I have a sort of sixth sense when it comes to people not feeling right."

Tsuna nodded. He supposed that made sense, if you took logic out of the equation.

"So why haven't I seen you since?"

"I told you, I don't have the money."

"I see. Well I'll tell what. Come back anytime and I'll see what I can do."

Tsuna looked at man in awe again. "I'd like that."

"Then it's a deal," Shio said as he looked up into the sky. "It's getting late, you should probably head home."

In wasn't all that late, but Tsuna knew what he meant. Shio's regulars would be there soon and he knew Tsuna would like to avoid them. "Okay," Tsuna said as he got up. As he left he turned around and waved goodbye. "Thank you!"

When he got back to his apartment he felt much better. He had made a friend. Sure it was an old man that ran a restaurant similar to a burger joint, but that didn't matter. He was still Tsuna's first real friend since he moved to Death City.

He opened the door to his apartment. It wasn't much, just a small kitchen and a bedroom, but that was all he could afford. Tsuna walked over to the bed and sat down on its edge. He turned on the TV feeling exhausted, laid down, and closed his eyes.

He didn't know how long he was asleep, but the knocking on his door woke him up. "Who on earth could that be?" he asked himself. He didn't get many visitors. "It must be someone trying to sell something or maybe someone with the wrong address. Either way I should probably get it."

Tsuna opened the door to a man in a black suit, with black hair, black eyes, and wearing a black fedora with an orange stripe around it. "How can I help you?" Tsuna asked.

"Are you Tsunayoshi Sawada?" the man asked.

"Yes," Tsuna said surprised, he found it hard to believe the man was looking for him.

"I'm going to be forward with you," the man said. "You have been chosen to be the tenth boss for the Vongola mafia family. I'm here to shape you into someone who can lead."

Tsuna looked at him blankly. "Okay what kind of prank is this?"

The man took out a gun and fired it off into the air. "What makes you think this is a prank?"

"Because who would what Dame-Tsuna as a boss?"

"That's not my concern. I've been hired to train you, like it or not."

Tsuna sighed. "Look even if you are telling the truth, I have no desire to join the mafia and become a kishin egg."

"Who said anything about kishin eggs?"

"Uh, mafia,"

"This family is special. None of it's members have ever turned into kishin eggs."

Tsuna groaned. "Who are you?"

The man grinned. "I'm the hitman tutor, Reborn."

* * *

Tsuna sighed. Either Reborn was telling the truth, or this was the most elaborate prank ever conceived. Reborn was give permission form both his mom and dad, not that his dad had any say in it. However the apartment was payed for by his mom, so there was much he could do to get rid of the guy. Tsuna guessed she only knew that Reborn was a tutor, not a hitman. She was trying to get him a tutor for ages due to his grades, but she never could afford one. Reborn told Tsuna that this was free of charge, as long as he has a place to sleep, so it wasn't a mystery way is mom would have jumped at the chance.

Reborn was tutoring though. He spent the later half of of the day drilling Tsuna with material from the DWMA curriculum, and every time Tsuna got a question wrong Reborn gave him a whack across the head. Put simply, Tsuna was not happy with these arrangements. Besides the point Tsuna had already gave up on attending the DWMA for the year, so learning the material was kind of pointless.

However, Tsuna somehow found his himself heading back to the DWMA the next day. He had no intention going back, but Reborn's presence was driving him crazy. Luckily the hitman was a fairly sound sleeper, if you don't get too close to him, and after all his complaints about not attending DWMA, Tsuna figured it was the last place the spartan tutor would look.

Covering his face with his sweatshirt's hood, Tsuna made his way through the crowd and into the building. He quickly headed to a classroom on the third floor that was absolutely empty. He walked over to a seat next to the window and seat down, staring into space. While the room was far away from any of the other students, the sound of the crowd outside still reached Tsuna's ears.

Tsuna sighed. "Sounds like things are going smoothly," he said to himself. "Perhaps I should just get a normal job." It was a thought that often entered Tsuna's mind. The only problem was that weapons weren't exactly too well received in most of the world. Many people were afraid of them or saw them as freaks, or at the very least somewhat dangerous. Death City was the huge exception to this rule, and the DWMA's students and alumni were treated with the respect of word peace officers around the globe. Even so, Tsuna wasn't up to staying in Death City if he wasn't going to attend the DWMA.

"Why do that when you can find a meister?" a voice asked him.

"Because no one's ever going to partner with me," Tsuna said flatly, not even realizing that someone was in the room with him.

"That not the attitude of a boss," the voice said.

At that line Tsuna froze and slowly turned towards the voice. "Reborn! What are you.." was all Tsuna could get out before Reborn kicked him out the window.

Time seemed to slow down as he fell the three stories and his eyes slid shut, as he heard the gasps and screams of the students below. 'I'm going to die,' he thought. 'It wasn't much of a life, what a waste. Still I wish I could have found a meister before I died. I dying regret from me, that's almost funny.' Tsuna forehead started to feel hot as if there was a flame busting out of it. 'I just wanted to find someone who cares, someone willing to face life's hardships with me.' "I want to live!" he screamed, only then realizing he had the desire.

As the wind whisked past his ear Tsuna braced for impact. He waited, but nothing happened. The wind stopped, but nothing happened. He waited a little longer, but still, nothing happened. Tsuna slowly opened his eyes and saw a boy with black hair and brown eyes leaning over him. As he observed his surroundings he noticed that the boy was actually holding him. This boy caught him, saved him.

* * *

Reborn watched as his student fell through the air. He wasn't to concerned, if worse came to worse, he would have stepped into save Tsuna. He had plenty of methods on hand, just in case. Still, Reborn wanted to see how this would play out. After a few seconds a small orange flame began to flicker on Tsuna's forehead.

A dying will flame, while everyone possessed one in their soul, only a select few knew of their existence, most of which were involved with the Vongola family. Also very few people are able to bring it forth without rigorous training, like Tsuna just did. Not to mention the fact that it was an orange flame, better known as the sky flame, the rarest type of dying will flame, known to be the flame the bosses of the Vongola family used.

"It looks like Tsuna wasn't chosen by a fluke after all," Reborn said to himself. Sure the flame was small, but it was still there.

"I want to live!" Tsuna screamed.

Reborn smiled. "Looks like he gets it," he said and prepaid to step in, but then he noticed a boy running towards Tsuna in an attempt to save him. Reborn wasn't about to take chances, but he was prepared for this. He took out a special dart, designed to weaken the impact Tsuna would feel when he hit the ground. Reborn was originally going to use a more forward method of rescue, after all the dart only lessens the injuries, not nullify them, but this boy seem intent on saving his student, and what was he to take that away from him.

He threw the dart and upon impact it was absorbed into Tsuna's skin. Tsuna probably didn't feel a thing, especially in his current state of mind. The boy ran forward and caught Tsuna right before he hit the ground. Tsuna remained unharmed.

* * *

Takeshi Yamamoto was looking through the crowd, but there was no sign of the mystery boy from the day before. "He probably isn't coming back," he said to himself. He may not have known exactly what the boy looked like, but he figured he'd know when he saw the kid. "I can't really blame him, I'd probably do the same after something like that. I can't believe he managed to go through that four times."

Takeshi heard the sound of a window shattering and turn to see it, and there he saw a boy falling from the third floor to the DWMA. The crowd gasped and screamed. Takeshi froze, unable to to move. He wanted to help but couldn't get his body to coraporate.

"I want to live!" the boy screamed and Takeshi's mind went blank. He dashed forward, without thinking, and caught the boy right before he hit the ground.

There was a long moment of silence before the boy opened his eyes and looked around blankly. "I'm Takeshi Yamamoto," Takeshi said to the boy as he put him down. "What's your name?"

"Ts...Tsuna," the boy answered, clearly still dazed.

"Oh, so you're the kid from yesterday," Takeshi said.

Tsuna's eyes widened in horror. He squeezed his eyes shut and turned around. "Thank you," he said quickly and ran off.

"Wait, I didn't mean to…" Takeshi tried to stop him.

"There he goes again, running away," a girl said.

"Well what did you expect. He is Dame-Tsuna," a boy replied.

Takeshi glared at them with a look the could kill lesser men. The two went silent, looks of fear covering their faces and Takeshi turned away, deciding they were a waste of time before sprinting after Tsuna.

Tsuna ducked into a storage shed. Takeshi followed him and saw the shed was filled with normal weapons, used in the meisters' exams. While weapons only had to take the written portion of the exam and demonstrate the ability to transform, meisters had to show that they could wield a weapon and recognize soul wavelengths, so they'd know when they found a weapon they could sync with.

"So he's trying to hide in plain sight," the Takeshi whispered. It shouldn't have been too hard to spot a human weapon in a shed of normal ones, after all, most weapons had a unique design on them to separate them, not just from normal weapons, but each other.

"So you're a weapon," Takeshi called out. But his words were met with silence.

"Tsuna, I know you're here."

"Go way!" Tsuna's voice echoed through the shed.

"Look I only want to talk. I didn't mean to hurt your feelings," Takeshi pleaded as he looked through the shed.

"You're the son of a master swordsman, aren't you?"

"Yeah, what's your point?"

"You can choose any weapon attending this school."

"What are you getting at?"

"I don't want to ruin your chances."

"What do you mean, ruin my chances?"

"People writing you off because of me. You don't want to be seen with Dame-Tsuna, it'll…"

"Don't call yourself that that!" Takeshi's voice cut through the air. "No one existence is no good. No one's life is useless."

Silence filled the air as the meister found a barrel of katanas. "Found you."

One of the katanas began to glow as Tsuna transformed back into his human form. "How'd you know? My weapon form looks exactly like a normal katana."

"I just had a feeling, but can I see your weapon form one more time?"

"Why, you can choose any weapon on campus?"

"Because I want to see yours."

Tsuna sighed. It was hard to argue with Takeshi. He took his weapon form and the point of blade stuck into the wooden floor of the shed. Tsuna was right, he looked exactly like the other katanas, but the moment Takeshi saw it, he felt something click. He grabbed the hilt and he felt their soul wavelengths match.

It's official, we're partners," he declared.

Tsuna quickly transformed back with a look of shock across his face. "Why choose me? You can literally choose any one."

"That's simple, because I want to. Now let's go register."

To Be Continued...


	2. Chapter 2: Partners

**No Shippings planed at this point so don't ask. Thank You.**

* * *

Partners

"Takeshi Yamamoto, here to register my weapon partner," the minister announced to a fourth year male student running the registration desk.

"Okay, and your partner's name?" the student asked as he sorted through the papers and began filling out a form.

"Tsunayoshi Sawada," Takeshi said.

The boy froze and looked up to see Tsuna doing everything he could to hide his face. "It really is you," he said in a low voice. "I haven't seen you since we moved to Death City. I see you're still a nervous wreck. You never change."

"You two know each other?" Takeshi asked confused.

"Y...yes," Tsuna forced out. "We w... went to t...the same sc...school back in J...Japan."

The boy starting laughing. "Wow, you've actually gotten worse. Once dame, always dame I supose."

Takeshi's face grew serious. "Just register us," he said with a growl.

"Whoo, scary," the boy said sarcastically as he continued to fill out the form. "Over protective much. Don't get your panties in a knot, your registered. Still, you're able to re-register any time before the end of the week. And you can send in a request to do so any time throughout the year." the student held out some papers out towards Takeshi. "You're too good for him."

"And that job is to good for your judgmental ass!" Takeshi said as he snached the papers. The meister grabbed Tsuna's wrist and dragged him away quickly. "The nerve of that guy!"

"Takeshi," Tsuna said still being pulled forward by the wrist, "he's right." Takeshi stopped "They're all right. You are too good for me. I am no good. I have terrible grades and no athletic ability. Heck, I can barely walk without tripping over my own feet. I'd only hold you back."

"This is what pisses me off the most!" Takeshi yelled, squeezing Tsuna's wrist harder. "These assholes have been picking on you so long that you take their lies as truths! Did you hear yourself back there? You were terrified of that guy! You left Japan and came to Death City, and that that terrible nickname followed you like a plague. And the worst part is that you accepted it! You believe you really are Dame-Tsuna! I've known you for a total of thirty minutes, and I've figured you out! However, you also managed to take the exam and go through that hazing four times. You survived and kept trying. I want to see that side of you. I want to bring out the side of you that's brave and powerful. You see yourself as weak, but I see you a fighter that doesn't know he can fight, even though he's been doing it on a daily basis. I'm going to help you. I won't let you call yourself Dame-Tsuna anymore!"

Tsuna was looking at the ground tears forming in his eyes. "Why?" he asked, "why are you doing this for me?"

"Because I'm your friend," Takeshi said. "And I refuse to let you give up on yourself."

"But like you said, we've only known each other for thirty minutes." Tsuna said as the tears began to fall. "How can we possibly be friends? It was nice to meet some who actually cares, but I know you're only doing this out of pity, so just admit it!"

Takeshi let go of Tsuna's wrist and placed his hands on Tsuna's shoulders. "I pity what you're doing to yourself. I hate what's been done to you. But you intrigue me. I want to learn more about you, the other side of you. If you stop doubting yourself, you can be one of the strongest weapons in school. I want to take you there. I want to be your friend."

Tsuna's tears kept falling. He lifted one arm to wipe them away. "I'm such a cry baby. If… if you think I can change, I'll try, as your friend."

"That's the spirit. Now we need to go over these papers."

"Can we do that somewhere else?"

Takeshi looked around and noticed a crowd staring at them, the people whispering to each other. "That's probably for the best."

* * *

Tsuna opened the door to Shio's, surprised to find it relatively empty. "Hey Tsuna, good to see you," Shio called out. "Come on in. My regulars don't get here for another half an hour or so."

Tsuna smiled. "Okay Takeshi, looks like this is a good place to go over those papers," he said.

Shio looked over to the door once more as Takeshi walked in. "Are you a friend of Tsuna's?" he asked Takeshi.

"New friend," Tsuna interrupted.

"I'm his meister," Takeshi said to Shio.

"Tsuna, you found a partner?" Shio said. "That great news. This is cause for celebration. You two can order and thing you want, on the house, within reason ofcourse."

"Thanks," Takeshi said with a large smile.

The two made their orders and sat down next to one of the windows. "Well Tsuna, what was that about there being no one willing to partner with you," a voice said. Tsuna froze and slowly turn to see Reborn sitting in a booth across from them.

Tsuna quickly got up and ran over to the man. "What did you think you were doing?!" Tsuna yelled. "You could have killed me! Some tutor you are!"

"Well you're alive," Reborn commented, siping on a cup of coffee, "and you found a meister out of it, so I'd say everything ended alright."

"That's not the point!" Tsuna yelled.

"Tsuna, who is this guy?" Takeshi asked.

"I'm his tutor," Reborn said bluntly.

"What kind of tutor kicks his student out a window!?" Tsuna screamed.

"I was giving you a test to determine your will to live," Reborn said and then took a sip of coffee. "You passed."

Tsuna was dumbfounded. "What good is a desire to live if I die?!

"Well I have a meeting to get to, so see you tonight," Reborn said before leaving.

"He seems like an interesting guy," Takeshi said laughing.

"Yeah, interesting," Tsuna said with sigh.

"Come on Tsuna, we need to look over these papers," Takeshi reminded his weapon.

"Okay," Tsuna said, giving up on his anger at Reborn.

The two went back to their seats and Shio brought them their food. As they ate they started to go over the papers. They mostly were about school rules, but there was a list of school classes as well. It seemed that weapon and meister partners were put in the same classes and shared the same schedule. Tsuna and Takeshi had all the basic class you'ld have in a normal school, math, science, verois language classes, and so on. They also had classes special to the DWMA, a class that goes over the supernatural side history, a class that goes over the science of souls, a class that teaches students to see souls, and a class for combat training.

In all honesty, the number of classes was rather overwhelming. That's why Tsuna and Takeshi were surprised to see two open slots. One slot was a long amount of time, labeled lunch and study. The other had a note that read, class details not sorted out. Treat time block like a study hall until further notice.

"I wonder what that's about?" Tsuna asked confused.

"How cares," Takeshi said with a goofy smile. "It means more time for us."

"I supposes," Tsuna said. Even so he had a bad feeling about the new class.

Pushing his fears aside, Tsuna looked over the final page. "Wait, What?!" he said surprised. The paper was explaining dorming for students. There was rules and all the usual, but what got Tsuna off guard was that they were already assigned an apartment, and it was free of charge. Tsuna felt his heart soar with happiness. Most importantly, he could tell his mom that she didn't have to pay for his apartment anymore. But as an added bonus, he could kick Reborn out for trespassing. "Today's a good day."

"Sure is," Takeshi said after read he the page himself. "It say's our room is in a building on the west part of town. Here's the address." Takeshi showed Tsuna the address and the weapon wrote it down. "After we finish eating, let's gather our stuff and meet up there."

"Sounds good."

"But one more thing. Let's promise that neither one of us will go in without the other. We should go in and see it together."

"Sounds great." Tsuna gave out a big smile. "I promise."

Takeshi stared at Tsuna. "You should smile more often. You look much better that way."

* * *

Tsuna didn't take long to gather all his things and stuff them into the suitcase he used when he came to Death City. Afterwards, he wrote a letter to his mom explaining that he made it into the DWMA and they gave him a new apartment for free, so she wouldn't have to keep paying for the current one. He then wrote that she should send all future mail to the new address. After Tsuna finished, he gathered up his remaining food from the refrigerator and cabinets, and put it all in some plastic bags.

On his way to the new apartment Tsuna stopped at the post office to mail his letter and by the he reached the his new home, his partner was leaning against the wall, waiting, with a couple suitcases on the floor next to him.

Takeshi curiously asked, "What took you so long?"

"I'm sorry, I had to mail a letter to my mom explaining the situation," Tsuna said.

"Well okay then, let's check out our new home."

They opened the door to a huge apartment. It had a small kitchen, a decent sized living room and a second floor and a small bathroom. They explored the second floor only to find out that the only things on that floor was a full bathroom and two bedrooms.

After claiming rooms and putting their things down, Tsuna went back downstairs to put the food he had brought over away, only to see Reborn sitting in the living room.

Tsuna was getting tired of seeing this tutor everywhere he went. "Reborn, my mother's not paying for this place so you have no right to be here," he said through gritted teeth. "Get out."

"Well, now I have permission from Lord Death," Reborn said. "That's what my meeting was about."

Tsuna was about ready to strangle the hitman when Takeshi came down from his room. "Oh, hello again," Takeshi said. "Your Tsuna's tutor right?"

"Yes," Reborn answered as Tsuna took the food into the kitchen, giving up on getting rid of the spartan tutor. "You can call me Reborn."

"Nice to meet you, my name's Takeshi Yamamoto. I'm Tsuna's meister."

"I see. Well nice to meet you too."

"By the why, how much do you cost? I need some help with my grades too."

"I'm free as long as I get food and a place to sleep."

"Wait," Tsuna said, "you told me it was just somewhere to sleep."

"That was before you got the new apartment," Reborn said.

"Well then, I guess you'll have to leave," Tsuna said with a devious grin. "I can't afford to pay for your food."

"Not true. Now that your mom's not paying for the apartment, your monthly allowance should increase."

"Well, then I refuse to pay! Not only will I have more spending money, but I can get rid of you!"

"You really hate my lessons that much?"

"You kicked me out a window!"

"Fine, I'll give you some money for your food budget. Now I'm literally paying you to tutor you."

Tsuna thought this over, weighing the options. On one hand, he could have more money, something he was always short on. On the other hand, he could be free of Reborn's life threatening tutoring methods. Tsuna decided he should try to make a compromise. "Promises not to try and kill me again?"

"I never was going to let you die. The Vongola need you, remember? I was about to step in to save you when Takeshi here beat me to it."

"Speaking of me," Takeshi cut back into the conversation as Tsuna gave out a loud sigh, "can you tutor me or not?"

"Well you do live here too, so I guess you are entitled to my services," Reborn said, thinking it over. "However my training is rather unorthodox, are you sure you want my help?"

"I figured that out when I heard you kicked him out a window," Takeshi said. "But I'm willing to take the risk, as long as you don't try to kill me."

"Okay then I'll teach you. And don't worry, you're safe too. Tsuna needs you, and the Vongola need Tsuna."

"Speaking of that, who are the Vongola? And why are you so determined to tutor Tsuna?

"Oh, didn't I mention? I've been hired to train Tsuna here to be the tenth generation Vongola mafia family boss."

"Mafia?"

"I'm not going to join the mafia," Tsuna said firmly. "No matter what that psycho hitman tutor says."

"Hitman?" Takeshi said, his confusion continuing.

"Didn't I mention?" Reborn said casually.

After few seconds, that Takeshi used to take it all in, he smiled. "No don't think so, he said before he started laughing.

"Please take this more seriously," Tsuna told his meister with a sigh.

* * *

A teen with long silver hair and dark green eyes walked down the streets of Venice, Italy. He headed into a small restaurant and sat down at a table across from another teen with messy black hair and bright green eyes.

"It's seems the ninth has made his decision," the silver haired boy said as he slid a photo over to the other boy.

"I see, so I take it you have some complaints," the black haired teen said.

"He doesn't seem like leader material.

"I suppose you're right, Hayato. But since when did you judge by looks alone?"

"I'm not. That's why I called you here Lambo. We're going to see him for ourselves. All the necessary paperwork has been filled out. We're heading to Death City first thing tomorrow."

To Be Continued...


	3. Chapter 3: Classes Begin

Classes Begin

Registration week ended and Takeshi and Tsuna received a package in the mail that contained an official schedule, another rule book, and their student ID's. It seemed that all weapon and meister teams were sorted into star rankings based on grades, skill, and overall progress in making a death scythe. Takeshi was designated a one star katana meister. As his weapon, Tsuna was designated a one star katana weapon. The star rankings determined the level of missions they were allowed to accept and the level of books the were allowed to read from the restricted the library.

The first day of school came around and Tsuna didn't quite know how to feel. He had been waiting of this moment since he moved to Death City, but now that it final came he had some doubts. He failed to get in three times and made a terrible first impression this time too. Not to mention the fact that his classmates from Japan told their entire class about him. The entire school most likely knew about him, including the teachers. Put all that together with his clumsy nature and terrible grades, and you have a recipe for disaster. The torment Tsuna went through as a applicant would be nothing compared to what he would go through as an student. Sure, Takeshi would give a death glare anyone who insulted Tsuna, but that wouldn't stop the problem. All it would do was stop the weaker students doing from it to his face, and Tsuna was sure he wasn't making any friends. "Whatever, I didn't apply to the DWMA to make friends," he whispered he headed to school.

"Then why did you?" Takeshi asked.

Tsuna was caught off guard. Not only was he surprised that Takeshi heard his comment, but he never expected someone to ask that question. Tsuna was silent for a long time as he gave it some thought. "I… I don't actually know," he answered softly. 'Why did I apply to the DWMA,' Tsuna asked himself. 'Was it just because I'm a weapon. No I don't think that's it. The school just seemed right.'

"You an interesting guy, you know that?" Takeshi said laughing.

"So you tell me," Tsuna said.

"So what's our first class?"

"Well after homeroom we have one star soul science. Did you read the schedule?"

"Nope,"

"And you say I'm interesting."

* * *

Tsuna entered homeroom and felt the gaze of every student in the standard lecture hall classroom fall on him. He quietly followed his mister to a couple open seats, pulling his sweatshirt hood over his head.

Whispers began to fill the classroom. "So it's true. He did find a meister."

"Good for him I guess."

"I can't believe Takeshi teamed up with him."

"That klutz is nowhere near Takeshi's level."

"He doesn't seem to viewed in a good light."

"The old man must have made a mistake."

"Wait, What?" Tsuna whispered. "Old man, mistake." Something seemed off about that line. Not only did it imply that they haven't heard about him until now, but it also seem that they were expecting something from him. Tsuna turned around to see boy with silver hair giving him a death stare. The weapon quickly turned away. He know the he wasn't popular, but he didn't think someone would want to kill him.

"Alright everyone, quiet down," a voice quelled the whispers. Tsuna looked up to see a man with shoulder length red hair and blue eyes entering the classroom. "The DWMA is short on teachers right now. Because of this expect your classes to be rather large. Until we find an official homeroom teacher of you all I be in charge around here. You can call me Professor Spirit Albarn."

"Wow, it's Lord Death's weapon," the class broke into conversation.

"Yeah, yeah, I know, I'm pretty cool, calm down," Spirit said bragging. "I will be filling in when needed till we find enough teachers. Now if I can have your attention, I've been asked to go over some of the school rules and policies with you. I know you all received rule books, but chances are none of you read them." There was some murmuring amongst the students. "That's what I thought. Besides grades in this school, you will be required to go on missions to solve issues in the world and collect kishin eggs. If you manage to collect ninety-nine kishin eggs you will be assigned to find a witch soul to make you weapon a death scythe. If you fall behind on your studies or fail to collect any kishin eggs you will be given a remedial lesson. Any questions so far?" After a few moments Tsuna slowly raised his hand. "Yes?"

"I hear that missions take students all across the world," Tsuna said. What if we can't afford to go?"

"Lord Death handles all travel and rooming preparations. Students won't be charged any expenses. It wouldn't be good if a kishin egg was allowed to continue evolving because a student didn't have the funds. Any other questions?"

There was a pause but no one raised their hand. "Okay then," Spirit continued. "The last thing I need to go over is the fact that classes that are not the basic curriculum you would find in any school are not separated by year, but by skill and star level, so you'll be in class with some upperclassmen. Don't let them intimidate you."

On that note the bell rang. "Alright, class dismissed," Spirit Albarn concluded homeroom, and the students shuffled out.

* * *

Tsuna never thought he'd meet Spirit Albarn on the first day. In all honesty it was kinda cool, too bad he couldn't enjoy himself much. On top of the fact that he was nervous around the other students, Tsuna could feel the silver haired boy's glare on him the entirety of homeroom. Even as he walked through the hall's to his first class, Tsuna still felt it, though he didn't dare turn around. As he reached the classroom he stopped, realizing how nervous he was. Takeshi walked in as Tsuna took a few deep breaths before the silver haired boy walked passed him. Tsuna felt his heart stop beating when boy stopped right next to him. The boy glared at the frozen Tsuna for a few seconds before grunting and continuing into the room. Tsuna let out a heavy sigh of relief before entering the room himself and tripping, implanting his face on the floor. "Ouch," he groaned.

"Are you okay?" a girl's voice asked as the room was filled with whispers.

"Yeah, I'm fine, happens all the time," Tsuna said as he got up to see a girl with green eyes and blond hair in pigtails.

The girl looked at him for a few seconds as Takeshi ran over to him. "Aren't you the kid who fell out a window?"

Tsuna dropped his head as the class laughed. "Yes."

"I don't see what's so funny about that," said a boy with spiky white hair and blood red eyes. "Seriously uncool."

The girl sighed. "I'm Maka and this is my weapon partner, Soul. What's your name?"

"This is Tsuna," Takeshi took over, "and I'm Takeshi, his meister."

"Well it's nice to meet you," Maka said. "However class is about to start, so we better get seated."

Maka and Soul walked away and Takeshi walked Tsuna over to to his seat.

"Look at that. Takeshi practically chauffeuring that klutz around," a student said under his breath.

"And Takeshi gives anyone that gives him a hard time a death glare."

"Must be nice."

"I don't know. It must be embarrassing to be Takeshi's charity project."

"Don't listen to them," Takeshi told to Tsuna.

"It's fine, I'm used to it," Tsuna said.

"Even so," Maka's voice came from behind them, "closed minded jerks like that will never create a death scythe."

Tsuna turned around to see Maka and Soul. "You too?"

"Is there something wrong with pointing out the facts," Maka asked.

"No it's just… I just didn't expect that." Tsuna let out a heavy sigh. "Just let them talk, I've gotten used to it over the years, so it really doesn't bother me that much. I'm just surprised it's so tame. No one said anything to my face. I haven't even heard that nickname yet. That's probably thanks to Takeshi's presence though."

"Nickname?" Maka said to herself.

"Oh," Soul spoke up. "He must me that dame thing."

Tsuna dropped his head. "That's the one." he said as Takeshi turned and gave Soul one of his death glares.

"Hey calm down!" Maka protected her partner. "He didn't mean it like that!"

"Cool guys don't call people names," Soul said confidently. "And I'm cool as they come."

"Well that makes three people that won't pick on me," Tsuna said softly. "Even so, you might not want to talk to me so much. I will ruin your reputation if you hang around Dame-Tsuna too much."

"Tsuna! I told you not to call yourself that!" Takeshi said firmly.

Tsuna dropped his head and sighed. "Sorry."

"Tsuna," Maka said, "let me let you in on a few secrets. You're not the only one to have a low score on the test. Even Soul here barely passed."

Soul leaned back in his seat. "Not cool Maka."

"And the mear fact you passed already puts you grades above Black Star."

"Back Star?" Tsuna said, puzzled.

"You'll know him when you see him, even if you didn't want to." Soul said looking at the ceiling.

"But if he didn't pass, then how'd he get in?" Tsuna asked.

"Something about him having an exceptional amount of potential as a meister," Maka said, continuing. "The point is he did worst than you on the test."

Tsuna continued to look at the floor. "That may be true, but I'm the one the class is looking at. You might want to stay away from me."

"Please," Maka said, insulted. "we're second years. None of them will bother us."

"And her father would probably kill anyone who tries," Soul said casually.

Maka dropped her head. "Please don't bring that womanizing scumbag into this."

Tsuna turn towards Soul. "What can her father do?"

Soul smiled. "He's Lord Death's weapon. Even so he's a little over protective of Maka."

Tsuna turned towards Maka. "Wait, your father's Spirit?"

"I don't think of him as my father," Maka said.

'Guess she's not a fan,' Tsuna thought. 'That's something I can relate to.'

The bell rang, signifying the start of class. "Okay, class is now started, so quiet down," said a man with black hair in cornrows and brown eyes wearing a white bandana. "I'm your professor for one star soul science. If you're in the wrong class, get out. As for the rest of you, you can call me Sid."

Tsuna lissened as Sid took attendance, and right after his name was called, he felt a shiver go down his spine. He turned around to see the silver haired boy still glaring at him. Tsuna quickly snapped his gaze back on the front of the class. 'What did I ever do to him?' Tsuna asked himself.

"Hayato Gokudera?" Sid called out.

"Here," the silver haired boy seemed to spit out.

"Tsuna, are you okay?" Takeshi asked.

"Yeah, why," Tsuna said.

"Because you've been acting strange since homeroom, even for you."

"It's just that guy over there, I think the teacher called him Hayato, he's been giving me a death glare all day. I can't think of a reason why he'd be angry with me and it's freaking me out. He didn't happen to be one of the weapons that wanted you as his meister or was he?"

"Not as far as I know. I've never seen him before."

Tsuna sighed. "Please let it be something simple. Like maybe he doesn't like my shirt."

* * *

Hayato was only paying minimal attention to Sid's lecture. He knew all this information inside and out, he did ace the exam after all. "He's not fit to be the boss," Hayato said.

"You said that already," said his partner, Lambo. "What do you plan on doing about it?"

"I'll fight him. Reborn's guaranteed to be watching and when I win the Vongola code will make me next in line to be the boss."

"I believe you have to kill him for that to work."

"Not necessarily, Reborn has the ability to report the victory and the ninth is a bit of a softy. He'd prefer to keep the bloodshed to a minimum. Even so, I'm not holding back. If he's going to change my mind, he only has one chance to do it."

"Sound's like a plan."

"There's only one problem. His meister seem a bit protective. If we want to get to him, we need to find a way to separate them."

"And how do you suppose we do that?"

"Well, I think they noticed me by now, but the didn't notice you let. You'll have to keep the meister occupied."

"Do I have to?"

"Yes, and don't complain, you stupid cow."

"How long are you going to insult my fashion sense?"

"You don't have one. No one but you thinks wearing a cow spotted shirt under their suit is cool."

The was a loud thump as the door swung open, and a boy with bright blue hair and green eyes jumped into the room. "Yahoo! You all are seeing the biggest star this world has ever seen! I am Black Star!" the boy said shouting at the top of his lungs. Well Hayato hoped it was the maximum volume of this kid at least.

"Star or not, you're late. Wait outside," Sid said.

"Come on, you expect a star as big as me to keep track of time!"

Sid picked Black Star up and literally threw him out of the room before closing the door.

"Let's make sure we take care of this today." Hayato said. "I'm not sure how much of this school I can handle."

* * *

"The day's finally over," Tsuna said as he walked out the nearest exit, which was located on the side of the building. "I'm not sure how much more of that guy's glaring I could take."

"So what are you going to do about it tomorrow?" Takeshi asked.

"I..I don't know. But I'm sure I can figure something out. Or at least get used to it. I've gotten used to every other kind of abuse after all."

"I'm not sure if I should yell at you for accepting it, or start searching for a therapist to help you regain your sanity."

"I have a spartan tutor trying to make me join the mafia that kicked me out a window on the third floor of a building, and I'm still letting him live under the same roof for a little bit of money. My sanity is beyond saving."

Both Takeshi and Tsuna laughed. "Good one," Takeshi said.

"It's funny because it's true," Tsuna said.

"Excuse me," a boy interrupted from behind them. They turned around to see the boy had messy black hair and bright green eyes. "I moved to Death City last minute and need some help finding my way around the place."

"Okay, I'll see what I can do," Takeshi said. "What's your name?"

"I'm Lambo. I'm actually a classmate of yours."

Tsuna had a bad feeling for some reason he couldn't identify. The one thing he did know was that it wasn't coming from Lambo himself, just something around him. "Where's your partner?" Tsuna asked.

"He's with one of the teachers." Lambo said. "We agreed to meet back at the apartment later."

It seemed reasonable enough. Even so Tsuna couldn't shake the bad feeling he had. Every once of his intuition was telling him to get back to his apartment as soon as possible. "Takeishi, you help him, I'll head home and start cooking or something."

"Are you sure?" Takeshi said. "I can help him find someone to give him a tour and then go with you. Or maybe we can go to Shio's."

"No it's fine. I have a new recipe my mom sent me I've been wanting to try anyway." Tsuna lied. He wanted to get home as fast as possible, but he didn't want to stop Takeshi from helping Lambo.

"If you say so," Takeshi said with suspicion in his voice. "Come on Lambo, I'll show you around. See you when I get home Tsuna."

Tsuna watched as the two walked off to the right and as soon as they were out of sight, he ran as fast as he could to the left. He wasn't going to stay on school grounds any longer if he could help it. Every second since he told Takeshi to go on without him, Tsuna felt the bad feeling get stronger, like something was closing in.

"That went smoother than expected," a voice said from Tsuna's side. Tsuna tried to ignore it and keep running, but an explosion blocked his path. "Where do you think your going? I'm talking to you."

Tsuna turned to face the voice, only to see the silver haired boy, Hayato Gokudera standing there. "It's you!" he screamed.

Hayato grunted. "I have some business with you. I'm gonna have myself a little target practice, and when I'm done you're no longer be the tenth boss of the Vongola."

"You… You know about that?"

Hayato ignored the question. "And don't count on your meister to save you. Labmo will keep him away for as long as I need."

"What did I do to you?!"

"You're not worthy of being the boss, so I need to remove you. If you have any complaints I suggest you show me something useful that you can do in this fight." Hayato took out several sticks of of dynamite, which seemed to light on their own, and threw them into the air. Tsuna tried to run as but the dynamite blocked his path at every turn.

"You're not even going to try to fight back?!" Hayato said as he took out a another set of bombs. "I'm done wasting time!" He threw the dynamite around Tsuna's feet. There was no escape.

Time seemed to slow down as the flames made their way down the wicks. 'I'm gonna die,' he thought. 'There's no way out. No! I can't die! Takeshi believes in me! I can't let him down!' Tsuna felt his forehead grow hot, much like it did when he was falling out of the window. "I won't let you win!" he screamed as his right arm transformed into a blade from the hand to the elbow. Tsuna quickly sliced off the flames from the dynamite and charged forwards towards Hayato.

Tsuna swung at Hayato using the back of the blade and Hayato jumped back. "Now we're talking," Hayato said. "You may prove youself yet." He took out more dynamite. "Try this on for size! Rocket Bombs!" he threw the dynamite into the air and the started to fly off in different directions, leaving a smoke steam behind them. The bombs came at Tsuna from all directions however he spun around and sliced off the flames before they could explode. Hayato increased the rate of his attacks, throwing a set of bomb before the previous one exploded. Tsuna kept slicing off the flames, but couldn't move from his position. One after another, Hayato was throwing a set of dynamite every second. "Let's see how you fare when things speed up!" He started to increase the speed of his attacks once more. Tsuna stared to miss a few and had to jump out of the way of the blasts, not that there was much room to do so. The blasts began to cause some damage.

"I can't hold out like this!" Tsuna said and suddenly Hayato dropped a large amount of bombs at his feet.

"Not good!" Hayato said in response.

Tsuna felt time slow down once more. 'No," he thought. "No! He can't die. I can't just sit here and let him die!' Tsuna transformed his arm back as he jumped forward towards Hayato and pushed him out of the way of the blast. Then, he braced himself as the dynamite exploded and everything faded to black.

"Get up. Get up!," he heard Hayato screamed through the darkness. "I was…" the sound faded away.

* * *

Lambo was legitimately shocked at how easy it was to separate the meister from his weapon. He had expected that he would have needed to use force, but it seemed that the rumors that said the kid was not good around new people were true, something he was sure Hayato hated to find out. It was all the same to Lambo however. He wasn't to interested in this whole affair to begin with. He was just following his meiser's orders.

The sound of explosions echoed from the DWMA. "Tsuna!" Takeshi shouted as he turned back towards the school.

Lambo sighed. "I was afraid of that." His hands began to be covered in green lightning. He jumped at Takeshi swiping at him with one of the electrified hands, and Takeshi jumped out of the way. Lambo then jumped in between Takeshi and the school. "Sorry kid, I have to keep you away from your weapon, my meister's orders and all."

* * *

"I don't care what your meister said!" Takeshi shouted, filled with anger. "Get out of my way!"

"If you keep this up, I'm going to have to fight you," Lambo said. "And I rather not. Besides your unarmed."

"I'll say it one more time. Get out of my way, or else."

Lambo sighed. "Have it your way." he jumped at Takeshi once more, swiping at him and Takeshi jumped out of the more. Takeshi took advantage of the opening and charged forward, towards the school. Lambo jumped back, blocking Takeshi's path once more. 'Damit!' Takeshi thought. 'I guess I have to beat him before I can help Tsuna.'

Lambo jumped forwards and swiped once again. Takeshi jumped just out of range before moving back in throwing a punch right at Lambo's face. However he was stopped short as Lambo trusted his electrified hand into Takeshi's chest, sending him flying into a wooden crate that exploded into pieces upon impact. 'It's no good. I can't beat him without a weapon.' Takeshi thought.

He got back up and looked at the pieces of the wooden crate. Takeshi smiled and picked up one of the wooden boards. "What are you doing?" Lambo asked.

"Not really my type of sword, too short, no blade," Takeshi said before taking his stance, "but it will have to do!" Takeshi dashed forwards. 'Shigure Soen first offensive form…' He trusted the wooden board at Lambo. 'Axle of Rain!' Lambo barely had time to react, but managed to sidestep the trust last second. He moved in and tried to trust his electrified hand into Takeshi's chest once more. Takeshi spun around and blocked the attack while spinning. 'Shigure Soen seventh defensive form… Splashing Rain!'

Right after blocking the attack, Takeshi slashed downward and hit Lambo on the head with enough force that the board broke in half.

Lambo staggered backwards and Takeshi took advantage of the moment to get away and sprinted towards the school. When Lambo pursued, Takeshi threw the remaining half of the board at him with so much force that it shattered against Lambo's chest, sending him flying backwards and rendering him unconscious. Takeshi didn't wait to see if Lambo got up, instead he immediately turned around and continued to sprint towards the school.

* * *

Reborn watched as Hayato challenged Tsuna from a vantage point on top of the school, looking through a pair of green binoculars. He saw Hayato accidently drop the dynamite and Tsuna push him out of the way of the explosion. A look of horror covered Reborn face. "Not good," he said. He planned on stepping in if things went south, and had plenty of methods to do so, but it all happened so fast even Reborn couldn't react quick enough.

"I should have stepped in sooner," he said to himself, not that he could. He knew that Hayato was challenging him for the position of boss, and he could only interfere when a victor was decided. Still, while it might seem Hayato was the victor, Hayato's code of honor said otherwise. Tsuna only lost because he stepped into save Hayato, and because of that Reborn knew Hayato considered Tsuna the victor, which meant the victor and future boss of the Vongola family was lying on the ground in a near death state. "I have to get over there."

* * *

Takeshi ran up the stairs to the DWMA as fast as he could. When he got the the top he saw Hayato carrying a badly injured Tsuna. He ran over and grabbed Hayato by the shirt collar. "What did you do to him?!" Takeshi demanded to know.

"I'll explain later," Hayato said, avoiding eye contact. "Right now we need to get him to the dispensary."

Takeshi accepted the response for the time being. "You better have a good explanation for this."

* * *

Tsuna slowly opened his eye's. "You're awake!" both Takeshi and Hayato said simultaneously.

Tsuna looked over to see Takeshi glaring at Hayato. "You have no right to be concerned after what you did," Takeshi said menacingly.

"You're okay," Tsuna said, groaning in pain. "That's good."

"I'm okay!" Hayato said in shock. "You need to worry about yourself more tenth."

"Tenth?" Tsuna asked.

"He insists on calling you that for some reason," Takeshi informed his weapon.

Hayato kneeled down on the ground. "You've proven that you truly are the next boss. I was a fool to doubt you. I pledge to serve you. I will follow you to the ends of the earth."

"Can't we just be classmates?" Tsuna said, trying to reason with Hayato.

"No," Hayato said with an incredibly serious look on his face and Tsuna didn't know if he should be scared, dumbfounded, or both.

"If you truly want to help him, you'll leave him alone and never come back!" Takeshi yelled at Hayato.

"I don't take orders from you," Hayato said angrily.

"Would you keep it down. Tsuna needs to rest," a female voice said from the other side of the room. Tsuna turned over to see a woman with blond hair and yellow eyes wearing a lab coat over a black shirt.

"Sorry Dr. Medusa," Takeshi apologized.

"It's fine mam," Tsuna said, clearly still in pain.

"Please call me Medusa, or Dr. Medusa," the doctor said gently.

"Okay Medusa."

"Already visiting the dispensary on the first day of school. Something tells me you're gonna be a regular."

"Sorry."

"Oh don't be. It's not your fault." Medusa glared at Hayato. "But you still need your rest. You were badly bruised. You're lucky that was all, the explosion could have killed you. This is why duels are supposed to have faculty supervisors."

"Still, I'd feel better if they stay."

The door to the room opened up and a boy with black hair and gray eyes walked into the room. He wore a school uniform from Japan that Tsuna recognized. He was wearing the jacket of the uniform on his shoulders, not bothering to put his arms through the sleeves, and on one of the those sleeves was a insignia the read _Discipline Committee_. "So you're the ones who had the unorganized duels," he said "For that," he lifted a tonfa, "I'll bite you to death."

"Don't even think about it!" Medusa stopped the boy. "Tsuna's already bedridden." The boy turned and looked at Hayato and Takeshi. "Hibari, leave now unless you want to become one of the patients."

The boy lowered his tonfa. "The Discipline Committee is watching you," he said before walking out the door.

"Who was that?" Everyone asked Medusa.

"Kyoya Hibari," Medusa said, "he's president of the Discipline Committee."

"Why did you call him by his last name," Tsuna asked.

"And what's the Discipline Committee?" Takeshi asked.

"For starters," Medusa said, "he prefers his last name, probably something he brought over from Japan. And the Discipline Committee is a group of students that are given special permissions by the school faculty. They help enforce the school rules and if no teacher is available to supervise a duel, they are allowed to supervise themselves. Hibari is just a bit over enthusiastic about enforcing the school rules."

The door opened again and Reborn walked in. I came as soon as possible," he said to Tsuna. "Dr. Medusa, I'd like you to release Tsuna into my care."

"I'm afraid that's not possible," Medusa said, massaging her temples. "Tsuna will need several days of bed rest."

"I have a written order from Lord Death." Reborn held out a letter.

"Let me see that." Medusa grabbed to letter, read it over, and groaned loudly. "Fine, but if something goes wrong, don't blame me."

Reborn walked over to Tsuna and held out his hands over Tsuna's legs. Reborn's hands lit up in what looked like yellow flames and Tsuna felt the pain in his legs subsiding. "Get up Tsuna, we're heading home."

Tsuna got out of the bed, groaning in pain as he got to his feet. Medusa watched, completely dumbfounded. "He should have needed at least a day's rest before being able to stand again," she said. "How'd you do that?"

"Trade secret," Reborn said. "Come on Takeshi, let's go."

"I'll see you tomorrow tenth," Hayato said before leaving himself.

Reborn led Takeshi and Tsuna out of the room and as soon as the were out Tsuna said, "Thank you. I didn't want to be left alone with her."

Reborn looked at his student. "Was something wrong with her?" he asked.

"I don't think so. I just had a bad feeling."

"Well I'm sure it was nothing, but I should apologize. I was watching your fight with Hayato. I planned to step in if things got out of hand, but it all happened so fast, even I couldn't do anything. As an apology I'll let you out of training for today and tomorrow."

"Gee thanks. It's not like I'd be able to anyway."

"And as a reward for your victory, I'm giving you extra money this week."

"You're rewarding me for winning a fight I lost?"

"You only lost because you stepped into save your opponent. As far as he's concerned, you won. And the victory I'm referring to is gaining a new member of your family. Hayato Gokudera is will be an asset to you as a mafia boss."

"I told you I'm not interested!" Tsuna choked a bit out of pain and sighed. "It hurts to scream. Thank you anyway I guess. Money is money."

* * *

Reborn led Tsuna and Takeshi into the apartment, unsure of what to do about food, he really wasn't much of a cook. He just gotten so used to Tsuna doing it, he never thought what to do if Tsuna was incapacitated.

"I'll handle dinner," Takeshi said, seemingly reading Reborn's mind. "What do you want Tsuna?"

Tsuna seemed to think it over. "Did you dad ever to teach you to make sushi?" he asked.

Takeshi looked over in shock. "Everyone here knows he's a master swordsman, but how'd you know my dad made sushi?"

"I passed his place multiple times back in my home town."

"Really? How have we never met before?"

"Well I never went in, as much as I wanted to. My family never had the money."

"Even so, we're from the same town."

"Bad luck I guess."

"Well he did teach me, and if you want sushi, you'll get sushi. Just let me go out and get the fish." And with that Takeshi left.

Tsuna laid down on the couch and turned towards Reborn. "Wake me up when Takeshi gets back," he said and closed his eyes.

Reborn quietly watched his student. Today was a close one for him and Reborn was a bit nervous. Not only did Tsuna almost die, but something else was bothering him. I didn't want to be left alone with her. Reborn may have said it was nothing, but that was just to calm Tsuna's nerves. "Could that be his hyper intuition be kicking in?" Reborn asked himself. "If so, it's happening sooner than expected. It probably is nothing, but just in case, I should keep a special eye on this Dr. Medusa."

* * *

Medusa sat in the DWMA's dispensary. "What was that golden flame," she asked herself. "It's not magic, I know that much. And it doesn't seem to be some sort of special soul wavelength either." She gave a devious grin. "With further research, this could be useful."

To Be Continued...


	4. Chapter 4: Recovery

Recovery

Tsuna winced in pain as he walked up the long staircase to the DWMA. "Are you sure you're okay?" Takeshi asked.

"You've asked me that twenty times already," Tsuna said.

"Well you were blown up. I think I have the right to be concerned."

"Look, I'm only a little sore. I'll be fine."

"Tenth!" a voice called out from behind them.

"That can only be one guy," Takeshi said, groaning.

Hayato walked up to to the two, followed by Lambo. "Tenth, are you sure you're well enough to go to school today?" Hayato asked.

"Not you too," Tsuna said.

"I'm just concerned of the well being of my boss."

"Like I told Takeshi, I'm just sore. Besides, if I don't show up on the second day, everyone will assume I running away, even if I have a legitimate excuse."

"If anyone says that," Hayato took out a stick of dynamite, "I'll teach them a lesson."

"If you do that, you'll most likely be expelled," Lambo said. "Then how will you serve Tsuna?"

"Damit." Hayato put the dynamite away.

Lambo turned towards Takeshi. "Oh yeah, sorry about yesterday. I did what I had to. Still it's good to see that you're both alright. No hard feelings, right?" Takeshi grunted. "I'll take that as a not a chance." Well, I tried."

"Why don't you two just leave us alone?" Takeshi asked angrily.

"Hey, If you can convince Hayato, fine. But I'll tell you right now that's not happening. He dead sent on being Tsuna's right hand man."

Takeshi turned towards Hayato. "Well Tsuna already has a partner, so you can feel free to get lost. You've caused Tsuna enough trouble."

"It's fine Takeshi," Tsuna said, intervening. "They said sorry."

"They almost killed you!" Takeshi shouted at his partner.

"And Reborn kicked me out a window. We gave him a second chance, why not them. Beside, unlike Reborn, I can trust them not to do it again."

Takeshi looked back over to Hayato. "Fine, if Tsuna thinks he can trust you, I'll give you a shot, but don't get comfortable."

Hayato shrugged. "I was never in this to please you. The only reason I'm showing you any level of respect is because your the tenth's meister."

"Don't push your luck," Takeshi said as they reached the top of the steps, were Tsuna noticed Maka and Soul talking to another student, that Tsuna recognized as the blue haired kid that Sid threw out of class.

"Tsuna," Maka said when she noticed him. "Are you okay?"

"Uh… Of course, why wouldn't I be," Tsuna tried to hide his injuries.

The blue haired kid jumped over to Tsuna. "Aren't you the kid the fell out the window?" the boy asked.

"Does everyone in school know about that?" Tsuna said with a sigh.

"Well it's not everyday someone tries to do a stunt like that. I mean, I'm Black Star, so I've successfully fallen from even more absurd heights unscaved. But it would take years for you to reach my level of greatness."

Tsuna dropped his head in embarrassment. "Yeah I know, I suck."

Black Star looked puzzled. "He has self einstein issues," Maka told him.

"Oh, is that all? Fear not, many cower in the presence of a star of my greatness." Black Star said and gave Tsuna a slap on the back

Tsuna felt the pain vibrate it's way through his entire body. "Oooowwwww."

"Of course you're fine, why wouldn't you be," Maka said sarcastically.

"Okay I'm injured, so what?" Tsuna asked.

"We heard you were blown up!"

"Rumors seem to travel fast in this school," Lambo said casually.

"It's not a rumor if it's true," Takeshi said, taking the opportunity to glare at Hayato once more.

Tsuna sighed. "Don't tell me the whole school knows about that too."

"Fraid so," Soul said casually.

"Great I can hear it now. Dame-Tsuna, blown up on first day of school. Today's gonna be a rough day."

"So who are your new friends?" Maka asked.

"Oh. This is Hayato and his partner, Lambo."

"Well it nice to…. Aren't you the guy who blow him up?!"

Hayato staggered backwards, as if he has hit in the chest. "It… it was a misunderstanding." he regained his composure. "I have vowed never to harm the tenth again. I am at his service."

"Tenth?" Maka asked.

"Don't ask," Tsuna said. "And can you stop calling me that, Hayato."

"Sorry, but the tenth is the tenth," Hayato refused.

Tsuna sighed and walked into the school. As soon as he reached homeroom the class broke into conversation.

"He's actually here?"

"But I thought he exploded."

"Yeah, he may be a clumsy idiot, but he's sturdy as a brick."

"You kinding, a brick would have been turned to dust from something like that."

"Seriously, I still can't believe Tsuna got in a duel on the first day of school. Tsuna!"

"And he almost won."

"He probably should have. I heard he only lost because he pushed his opponent out of the way of the explosion that hit him."

"We might have underestimated him."

"How does everyone know this much?" Tsuna said as he took his seat.

"Look on the bright side," Takeshi said. "They're not insulting you."

"Yeah, but I'm not really comfortable with this much attention."

"Everyone, quiet down," Spirit called into the room. "Is it going to be like this every day?" Spirit started to take attendance, however he stopped when he reached Tsuna's name. "Dr. Medusa requested you visit the dispensary for a check up after what happened."

The class broke back into whispers. "So it's really true."

"I'm fine," Tsuna tried to argue.

"Sorry, it's mandatory," Spirit said bluntly.

"I have a bad feeling about this," Tsuna said quietly.

"Profess Albarn," Takeshi called out, "can I accompany him to the dispensary?"

"Sure, go ahead," Spirit said dismissively.

* * *

"You've certainly made a remarkable recovery," Medusa told Tsuna. "Can you tell me what your father…"

"He not my father," Tsuna interrupted. "He's my tutor."

"Okay then, can you tell what your tutor did to heal you. It could be useful here."

"I'm sorry I don't really know. After we left, all I did was eat and go to sleep."

"Oh, well, if you can convince your tutor to come in and tutor me on the subject, it would be much appreciated."

"I'll see what I can do."

"So, Dr. Medusa," Takeshi spoke up., "how long before Tsuna is back to one hundred percent?"

"Well, it's hard to gauge, but in my professional opinion, if he keeps resting after school, he'll be better by the beginning of next week," Medusa said. "Unless that tutor of his works his magic again. If he does it Tsuna will probably be better by tomorrow."

"That's good to hear."

"Quite, after all you're supposed to start missions next week."

"Wait, what?!" Tsuna objected.

"Don't worry Tsuna. We can handle it," Takeshi said. "I mean you fought Hayato on your own, and this time you'll have me."

"I guess you might be right."

"Seems you're Improving in more ways than one."

"Okay you two," Medusa interrupted the two. "The check up's done. You can leave. But make sure you come back in tomorrow Tsuna."

Tsuna and Takeshi left the room and Medusa sat there in thought. "That man's ability is something that even I am unfamiliar with," she said to herself, "and he seems to have enough influence to get favors from Death. However, he's spending his time tutoring a boy that seems to have little significance, and is wants to watch over him personally." A devious smile formed on Medusa's face. "There must be something special about that boy. It might be interesting to use him in my experiment."

* * *

Tsuna and Takeshi arrived back at the apartment and Tsuna collapsed on the couch. "How was your day?" Reborn asked.

"Tsuna seemed to become rather popular suddenly," Takeshi said."

Tsuna groaned. "Don't remind me."

"What's wrong with that?" Reborn asked.

"I'm getting even more attention than usual," Tsuna said. "I'm not comfortable in the spotlight."

Reborn shook his head. "Well, you better get used to it. You're going to be a mafia boss after all."

"No, I'm not. Besides the popularity will die down soon enough and I'll go right back to being Dame-Tsuna."

Takeshi gave Tsuna a stern look. "How many times do I have to to tell you to stop calling yourself that?"

Tsuna sighed. "Sorry."

"We have to do something about this pessimistic attitude of yours," Reborn said. "It's not suited for a boss."

"Mafia this. Boss that," Tsuna complained. "How many time do I have to say I'm not Interested?!"

Reborn ignored the question. "So I heard that you visited the dispensary today. How are Tsuna's injuries?"

"Don't ignore me!"

"Dr. Medusa said he'd make a full recovery by next week if he keeps resting," Takeshi said. "However if you use that ability you used yesterday, he'll be better by tomorrow."

"That's good to hear," Reborn said as Tsuna grumbled some more about being ignored. "Keeping that in mind, Tsuna I'll let you out of training until next week."

"You better," Tsuna said, still annoyed.

"Can't you use that thing again to heal him now?" Takeshi asked.

Reborn shook his head. "Sorry but that power isn't a healing spell. It speeds up growth. I use the bare minimum of it yesterday to speed up the growth of his cells to get him on his feet, but over exposure to it can be dangerous. Right now the best thing for him is to rest normally."

Takeshi sighed. "Okay, I'll start dinner."

* * *

The next week of school came around and Tsuna stopped into the dispensary on more time. "Well, you're fully recovered," Medusa said. "Now you can sign up for missions with a sound mind and a sound body."

"That good to hear," Takeshi said.

"Now off to class you two, you don't want to be late after you came in early just for me."

"Right," Both Tsuna and Takeshi said before leaving.

Medusa watched as the two left the room. "It's going to be hard to get a chance to inject him with that over protective meister of his always watching over him," she said to herself. "Still he'll be back here, and I'll be waiting."

"Alright, I'm sure you've all heard by now," Spirit said after taking attendance, "but I've been told to inform you that you will start going on missions as of today." The class broke into whispers. "You'll be required to accept a mission by the end of the week, and you must complete it by the end of the month. You will be required to complete a minimum of one mission a month, but for those of you actually looking to make or become a death scythe, you're going to want to pick up the pace. If you fail to accept a mission by the end of the week, one will be assigned to you. And if you need extra credit, Lord Death always has a supply of mission he's willing to give you. Class dismissed."

As Tsuna a Takeshi left the room Takeshi said, "We should check out the mission board after school."

"I don't know, maybe tomorrow," Tsuna said, hesitating.

"Oh, come on, what can happen."

"We could die."

"You're still nervous."

"Yes, I mean we've missed combat training all last week thanks to my injuries."

"I suppose you have a point there. Fine, we'll train this week and wait to be assigned a mission, but then we're going right away."

Tsuna sighed. "Fine."

* * *

Spirit walked out to the combat field and took attendance. "Okay everyone's here," he said. "You might want to take advantage of today. For many of you, this will be your last combat training session before you attempt your first mission." He looked over to Tsuna. "Since you were unable to train last week, you're behind the other students. I've been asked to give you a sparring partner you can handle. Not that that gives me many options." Spirit looked around. "Hayato, Lambo, you two are the ones Tsuna and Takeshi dueled against on the first day, right?"

"Well, yes, but…" Hayato stuttered out.

"But we fought them separately," Lambo said calmly.

"It doesn't matter, "Spirit said, "you two are the only ones that Tsuna and Takeshi are familiar with."

"But I swore never to harm the tenth again," Hayato said.

"Look, it's either you two, or Tsuna and Takeshi gets put up against a team that they don't stand a chance against. You can hold back for all I care, but they need the practice if they hope to complete their first mission."

"Hayato," Tsuna said, "I need your help."

Hayato beamed with joy. "I do anything you ask tenth. Lambo, let's go."

"Sure thing," Lambo said before transforming into a small cannon with a skull design in the front that mounted himself onto Hayato's arm.

"Come on Tsuna," Takeshi said and held out his right arm.

"Uh, right," Tsuna said and then transformed into his weapon form right next to Takeshi's hand.

Takeshi grabbed Tsuna and smiled. "This should be fun. I get to train with Tsuna and get back at you for hunting him at the same time. Maybe I'll find it in my heart to forgive you after this."

Hayato grunted. "I don't need your forgiveness. I work for the tenth."

"Alright you two," Spirit said and raised an arm before dropping it back down. "Begin."

Hayato lifted his cannon mounted arm and fired a red bast at Takeshi. Takeshi ducked to the side and dashed forwards. Using the back of Tsuna's blade he slashed at Hayato. Hayato dropped his arm putting Lambo's cannon form in the way of the the blade, blocking the attack before jumping back. "Lambo, sun cartridge," Hayato ordered.

"Got it," Lambo said. Hayato lifted his arm and fired blasts in rapid succession like a machine gun.

"Shigure Soen forth defensive form," Takeshi moved from side to side, evading the blasts while moving forwards. "May Wind, October Rain!" Hayato's blasts ran out right as Takeshi got in range. Takeshi swung the back of Tsuna's blade at the unarmed half of Hayato's body, knocking him to the floor. Before Hayato could get up, Takeshi lifted the tip of Tsuna's blade to Hayato's face.

"That's enough," Spirit stopped the match. "Takeshi and Tsuna win. Now a few pointers Takeshi you may be skilled, but you may find that your own power won't always be enough. Hayato and Lambo may have lost, but their experts at weapon meister teamwork. I think there's alot you two can learn from them."

Tsuna and Lambo transformed back as Hayato got off the ground. "Hayato," Tsuna said, "I'm not going on a mission until I get a week's worth of combat training. I think Profess Albarn is right, can you help me till then?"

Hayato's eyes lit up. "Of course," he said. "Your request is my command. I'll even skip my mission if you so desire."

Takeshi laughed. "Okay, I admit, it's hard to stay angry with you when you act like this."

The students started to gossip. "What with them?"

"Maybe Hayato feels he owes Tsuna a life long debt for saving his life."

"But what's with the whole tenth thing?"

"Who know's. Hayato a bit of a weirdo."

"Guys can we do this after class," Tsuna asked.

"As you command tenth," Hayato said.

* * *

A week went by and Tsuna and Takeshi were called into the death room, a room with it's own sky, complete with moving clouds, despite the windows, and a large landscape covered in crosses. The layout of the room made it impossible to gage the size. A popular theory was that the room was magic and went on as far as needed. The entrance had a road of non functional gelatines over a stone pathway leading to a circular connect platform with a mirror on it. When Tsuna and Takeshi arrived, Death, a being either wearing or made of a black cloak with a goofy skull mask was waiting for them with Spirit.

"Now I know you were training," Death said in a goofy high pitched voice, "but you still failed to sign up for a mission. So I will be assigning you one."

"We expected as much," Takeshi said.

"Quite," Death continued. "Now there have been reports of an clown, running around killing people, or was he a jester?"

"I don't believe that matters sir," Spirit said.

"Oh, yes, right." Death picked back up. "We've tracked his position to San Francisco, California. You will travel there and take him out. Any questions?"

To Be Continued...


	5. Chapter 5: Rascal

Rascal

Takeshi and Tsuna returned home from the DWMA and indemnity started packing. "Getting ready for your mission?" Reborn asked.

"Yeah," Tsuna said. "I promised Takeshi if we waited to the end of the week, we'd start the mission right away."

"So what's the mission?"

"We're going to San Francisco to take out some killer clown."

Reborn raised an eyebrow. "You're taking on the San Francisco Clown mission?"

"Yeah, you know about it?"

"I little, I keep an eye on your school curriculum. What kind of tutor would I be if I didn't? Even so, what made you choose that mission?"

"We didn't. Lord Death assigned it to us. We're leaving first thing tomorrow."

"Well good luck, I'll keep the place in good shape. Just return alive, okay, the Vongola still need you."

"Thank for the concern, but I'm still not joining the mafia."

* * *

After Tsuna and Takeshi arrived in San Francisco, they started to explore the streets. "Impressive city," Takeshi commented. "You think we can do some sightseeing when this is over?"

"Well," Tsuna said, "the school does encourage students familiarize themselves with foreign culture, but it's also recommended that us return to school as soon as possible so we can accept new missions and avoid missing classes. So I'm not really sure."

"If that's the case, let's spend one extra day here, if we can't take advantage of traveling free of charge, what kind of teenagers are we?"

"Responsible ones."

"Don't be like that. So where do we start with this mission anyway."

"You didn't read the mission briefing, did you?"

Takeshi laughed. "How'd you know?"

Tsuna sighed. "For starters, this clown doesn't kill unless certain criteria are met. He likes to make a show out of it, so he needs a crowd."

"That doesn't help much. If you haven't noticed, we're in a popular tourist location."

"Well thanks for pointing that out captain obvious. I could never have figured that out on my own. Other than that, he seems to prefer the night."

"If that's the case, why not start sightseeing now?"

"No I think we should scout out the area. He may like a crowd, but if he really wants to make a show out of it, he'll chose a popular tourist location."

"So the reason we can't go sightseeing, is that we'll be to busy sightseeing."

"Well when you put it like that it sounds stupid. Still, the point is that it's not for fun. We need to focus on the mission."

Takeshi stared at Tsuna. "Who are you and what have you done with my partner?"

"What do you mean?"

"My partner was trying to avoid going on this mission, and only left because he made me a promise. However, you're going in full force."

"Well, it's the least I can do. I'm still no help in a fight."

"What do you mean? Even if we've been unable to work as a team, you still fought Hayato on your own and almost won."

"Yeah but the only reason I almost won was that he accidentally dropped his dynamite. Besides, I was only able to fight because I was able to transform my arm into a blade, and I haven't been able to do that again since."

"Okay, don't worry about it. Where do you suggest we start looking?"

"Let's see. His shows are like a deadly circus act, so he'll need alot of space, probably somewhere outside. We should also try to find some sort of vantage point that we can see most of the city from. If his shows are as flashy as suggested, we should be able to spot on of them."

"You can figure that out, but you couldn't score above a sixty on your test."

* * *

Takeshi and Tsuna looked over the city from the roof of their hotel, hoping to see the appearance of the killer clown in one of the sites they scouted out, when a ring of fire surrounded Union Square.

"There!" Tsuna shouted.

"Let's go," Takeshi said and Tsuna followed his lead as they grabbed a pair of hang gliders they brought before and leaped off the roof. They glided over and once they were above the ring of fire they dropped in front of the panicking crowd. In front of them was a man in a white outfit that had purple legs. He was wearing a white mask with black slits in front of the eyes. His hair was split into four sections, the front was purple, the left side was blue, the right side was yellow, and the back was red.

"Show's canceled joker!" Takeshi said.

"Close," the clown said in a creepily gleeful tone. "The name's Rascal."

"Well then, serial killer Rascal, you've put on your last show! Your soul is mine!"

"I doubt that."

"Tsuna!"

"Right!" Tsuna said as he transformed into his weapon from and Takeshi grabbed the hilt and took his stance.

"Your souls look nice." Rascal said as he started to juggle some bombs. "They'd make a great addition to the show. Thank you for the donation." He clapped his hands together, making the bombs disappear in between them. He opened his hand back up and a beam of fire shoot forwards towards Takeshi. Takeshi evaded it to the right, dashed forwards and slashed horizontally at Rasal. Rascal nimbly bent backwards to duck under the blade before and blade of his own popped out of his sleeve and he sprang back up and slashed at Takeshi. Takeshi jumped backwards and Rascal took a hand of playing cards and threw them into the air where they exploded into a cloud of smoke and daggers came raining down. Takeshi sprinted forward to avoid the falling daggers and got in range of Rascal.

"You need to lighten up," Rascal said as he took out another playing card and held it in front of him. The card emitted a bright light, blinding Takeshi as he swung Tsuna's blade. When the the light faded Rascal was a few feet away, juggling more bombs. He tossed them into the air and the threw three more playing cards at Takeshi. The card exploded into smoke again and missiles came shooting out of the clouds. Takeshi dodged the missiles as the bombs landed next to him and exploded.

"I'm starting to think this should have been higher than a one star mission," Tsuna said in a scared tone of voice.

* * *

Death watched as the fight raged between Rascal and Takeshi and Tsuna rage on though his mirror. "I have some questions," said a voice behind him.

Death turned around to see Reborn. "Great to see you Reborn. How's it going. You think my offer over."

"I want to know why you sent my students on that mission."

"What mission?"

"The killer clown. I know that was a two star mission, so why did you give it to a one star team."

"Well, Takeshi is an exceptional meister. His skill with a sword is quite the site. His father taught him well. And finding Tsuna as a partner was more of a blessing than I think he even knows. After all, his skill is best shown with a katana. Even so there's one thing holding him back from truly working as a team with Tsuna."

"Tsuna's confidence."

"Exactly. Tsuna was picked on for years, and rather coming to resent it, or even just brush it off, he accepted it. As long as he believes that he's no good, he can't improve. The first step to fixing that is showing him that his partner can overcome a seemingly more powerful opponent. He needs to see that his partner trusts him and can use him effectively. And for that end I sent them on this mission."

"I see you put alot of thought into this, but how do you know they can win? The fight isn't going so well."

"Takeshi has been holding his best techniques back. Despite only having eight forms the Shigure Soen style is quite formidable.

* * *

"I'm starting to think this should have been higher than a one star mission," Tsuna said in a scared tone of voice.

"Don't worry Tsuna," Takeshi said. "Let me show you the true power of the Shigure Soen style."

Rascal took out three playing cards and threw them and Takeshi. The cards implanted themselves into the ground and began to glow. Takeshi jumped forwards and the cards exploded. He used the blast to increase his speed as he ran forwards towards Rascal, holding Tsuna on his right side. "Shigure Soen fifth offensive form," Takeshi whispered and once he was in range was in range, he swung at Rascal with his left hand. Rascal jumped over the swing, only to realize Tsuna wasn't in Takeshi's hand, he dropped him. Takeshi caught Tsuna in his right hand and slashed upwards. "Early Summer Rain!" Two blades popped out of Rascal's sleeves, which he used to block the strike. The force sent Rascal flying backwards and after doing a few flips in the air, he landed safely on the ground.

"You're more skilled than you look," Rascal said. "No matter. It's time for the grand finale." He took a bow and a bunch of missiles launched from behind him. As he got back up, he took out a hand of playing cards that he threw into the air, before he began to juggle some more bombs. He clapped his hands together with the bombs in between, and when he separated his hands a larger bomb took their place. He threw the bomb into the air and kicked it towards Takeshi. The cards exploded into smoke and arrows came raining down as the missiles closed in on him. Takeshi jumped in front of the missiles which collided into each other. The explosion pushed him out of the way of the arrows, but he landed next to the large bomb. The bomb exploded, and the blast caused Takeshi to stumble forwards, dropping Tsuna.

"Takeshi!" Tsuna yelled.

"Don't move," Takeshi whispered. "Shigure Soen third offensive form," Tsuna fell in front of Takeshi's foot and he kicked Tsuna's hilt, causing him to go flying point first towards Rascal's head. "Last Minute Rain!" Rascal barely managed to to tilt his head out of the way and the sword scratched his face. Takeshi was suddenly next to Rascal and grabbed Tsuna out of the air. Takeshi spun around and cut Rascal in two and Rascal imploded leaving nothing behind but a floating red orb.

The fire quelled as the crowd that was panicking before began to cheer. Tsuna transformed back and looked at the floating red orb. "My first kishin egg," he said. "Only ninety eight souls to go I guess."

"Well done Tsuna," Takeshi said.

"What do you mean, you did everything."

"I couldn't have done it without you. I felt safe because I could trust you. That's what being a team's all about."

Tsuna smiled. "I'm glad I could help, even if it was just in spirit."

"Are you kidding? You did alot more that on this mission. I would have never found the guy if it wasn't for you. You need to accept more credit. Anyway let's claim our soul now."

Tsuna looked at the red soul once again. "I guess I have to eat it huh?" He grabbed to soul, placed it into his mouth and tried to chew, but the soul just seemed to slip and move all around his mouth. After a while he gave up on chewing and just swallowed. "Slimy."

"Come on," Takeshi said. "Let's get back to the hotel. I think we earned some R and R.

* * *

After a day that was used to see the sites, Takeshi and Tsuna arrived back to Death City and went to report their success to Death. "Congratulations on your first successful mission. You're among the first to return successful. You've done well."

"Thank you Lord Death," Tsuna said. "But I have a question."

"Ask away."

"Rascal was alot tougher than expected, were we that far behind on our training?"

"Oh about that, it turns out I sent you on one of the easier two star missions. Honest mistake, won't happen again."

"Wait, we completed a two star mission?"

"Yes and quite well if I do say so myself. I'm expecting great things from you two."

"You expect great things from me?"

"Of course Tsuna. No matter what happened in your past, I see a bright future ahead of you. If you learn to work with Takeshi you may very well become the next death scythe, so keep your chin up."

"Thank you Lord Death," Takeshi said.

"You're very welcome. Now you should get to class, your mission's officially over and I say it was a great success."

To Be Continued...

Author's note: Please review. I don't know what it is about my stories, but they always get very little comments/reviews. I'd like the feedback, whether you're giving me advice or just telling me what you think. Also I have a new story called Kenichi: The Fallen Child. If you're interested here's the link.  s/12385064/1/Kenichi-The-Fallen-Child


	6. Chapter 6: Remedial Lessons

Remedial Lessons

A month went by and Tsuna and Takeshi collected a total of ten souls, actually more than what's recommended. It is recommended that students go on no more than five missions a mouth so they can study and not miss too many classes. While Hayato and Lambo went on a total of twelve missions, Hayato always had perfect grades, and Lambo seemed to always be passable with minimal effort.

Takeshi and Tsuna knew their grades were awful, and Takeshi decided that they should focus their efforts on soul catching, not that they didn't study. Reborn practically made them spend every second of their free time doing it. Even so, their grades were dropping, even more than usual, and Tsuna was beginning to get worried. It didn't help that he completely bombed his first test.

To complicate matters more, one of the teachers, Sid, died. Tsuna felt awful about it. He really liked Sid but last thing the dead teacher knew about Tsuna was that he was failing the class. Not to mention that the new teacher would be judging him on those grades. Things weren't looking so good.

He reached his first class and after he took his seat he started to overhear Soul talking to Maka. "You haven't heard?" Soul said. "They say there's some weird dude that's been coming after students from the academy lately. I guess some kid in the next class over got messed up pretty bad. Point is, everyone who's seen this dude, they all say the same thing. They all say he was a zombie who had a hole in the middle of his forehead!"

Maka screamed before hitting Soul over the head with a book and Tsuna shivered. The very idea of a zombie scared him senseless. However, when he thought about it, he didn't even know if zombies could even be real. Sure, souls lingered after death, making ghosts a sure thing, but to re input a soul into a body didn't seem possible. The only way he knew of for a zombie to exist was for a necromancer to resurrect a body with magic which would take the form of a kishin egg. But if that were the case than the zombie would be mindless and if it really was in death city it would be easily taken care of. Even most of the students could take it out.

"Did you really have to hit me again?" Soul grounded.

"So your theory is that the zombie is Sid?" Maka said. "Please, that's only a story somebody made up to scare everyone."

"I don't know," Takeshi interrupted. "Sid may have come back to force Tsuna and me to retake the test." Takeshi then laughed at his joke.

"Don't even joke about that," Tsuna said. "I don't need help to be scared of a zombie." The four of them laughed a little before the door opened and Spirit walked in.

"Alright kids, quiet down. Class is about to start," Spirit said. "I'm not going to bother taking attendance, but I will tell you one thing right now. Anyone who who thinks the bell decides when class is over, is wrong. I do." The class stared at Spirit, some students in awe, some just dumbfounded. Tsuna was shocked at Spirit actions. Sure, Spirit wasn't the biggest fan of taking attendance. While he always did it in homeroom, he often skipped it in the in combat training. That wasn't what surprised Tsuna. What surprised him was that Spirit was acting cool, or trying at least.

The Spirit started to give a goofy smile and stared towards the seats behind Tsuna, and Tsuna figured it out. "He's trying to impress Maka," he said quietly.

"Hey," Soul said, "is it just me or is that stupid father of yours making that goofy face right at us?"

"Um, I think it's just you," Maka said. "And please, do not refer to him as my father."

'At least he's trying to be one,' Tsuna thought.

"What's up with this Spirit?" Soul asked. "Are you supposed to be our new teacher now or something?"

"Just like all the other classes I'm currently in charge of," Spirit said, "I'm just filling in till they can find someone to fill Sid's position permanently. That being said, I'm still in charge of this class, so as long as I'm here, you will call me Professor Spirit Albarn!" Spirit calmed down immediately after that and smiled. "Alright then, let's take attendance."

"You said you weren't going to take roll!"

"I'm not for the guys, but I think I will for all the ladies."

This caught Tsuna off guard again. While Spirit always gave girls special treatment, he was never this bad before. The only thing Tsuna could think of to explain it was that Spirit was so annoyed at Soul, that he let his perversion take over. Either way, Tsuna was starting to see why Maka didn't like him. Even so, he'd rather have Spirit than his deadbeat dad any day.

"Dammit, quit being a creep!" Soul shouted.

Maka turned away in disgust. "Oh please."

Spirit mumbled something and then wrote something down. "Okay, let's get this class started now."

Soul stood up and put on foot on the desktop. "Hey old man! What did you just write down there!?"

"Oh that reminds me," Spirit said, "Maka, Soul, Black Star, Tsubaki, Takeshi, and Tsuna, Lord Death wants to see you in the death room. You've been excused from class."

* * *

Tsuna followed the others into the death room and took notice to Tsubaki for the first time. He didn't spend much time with Black Star, and the little he did, Black Star soaked up all of his attention. Tsubaki was a woman with long black hair and black eyes. She appeared to be somewhat older than the rest of them and had an air of maturity around her. She seemed kind and gentle, and Tsuna figured she was the only one the could partner with Black Star.

"Hi, hello what's up," Death said to them as they approached. "Thanks for coming."

"We're here as requested," Maka said. "What is it you need from us?"

"I have a little assignment for all of you." Death said.

"Assignment?" the six asked in unison.

"Remedial lessons," Death said flatly.

"The lessons stupid people get? Those remedial lessons?" Maka said, clearly in a panic.

"Well screw that!" Soul said. "I'm going to be a death scythe! I'm way too cool for remedial lessons!"

"Do you remember your duty as meisters and weapons?" Death asked.

"Yes," Maka said. "Our duty as meisters is to feed our weapons ninety-nine kishin eggs and one witch soul. We collect evil souls in order to keep the world at peace. We work to create a death scythe, weapon of the grim reaper, Death."

"You are absolutely right," Death said. "But do you know how many souls you all managed to collect? Exactly zero."

Maka, Soul, and Tsubaki staggered backwards as if they were hit in the chest and Back Star started laughing. Death promptly chopped Black Star over the head. "It isn't something to laugh about chuckles," he said sternly.

"That must be the famed Reaper Chop," Tsuna whispered.

"Lord Death," Takeshi interrupted. "Why are we here? We have ten souls."

"Oh yes, thanks for reminding me," Death said. "You've been doing very well with collecting souls, but not so well with your grades. Do you know what you two scored on your tests." Tsuna and Takeshi tensted up. "Flat zeros, which is especially puzzling because it was entirely multiple choice."

"That's because none of the answers were A," Tsuna muttered under his breath.

"What was that?" Death said firmly.

"Nothing," Tsuna said in fear of being hit by the Reaper Chop.

"Now are you ready to learn what your remedial lesson will entail?" Death asked. "Maybe you've already heard the rumors, about Sid who taught here at the academy until recently."

"See, I was right, it wasn't just a story," Soul said.

"Yeah," Maka said. "But a zombie? I always thought he was a really good teacher."

"You're right," Death said. "When he was alive he was regarded as an excellent teacher, but when he became a zombie he changed. He has been released from the fear of death, and now he wants others to have the same freedom he does. He is trying to train students to free themselves as well, but when a student won't listen Sid attacks. Another difficulty is that we still don't know who changed Sid into zombie, or what their motive could possibly have been."

"Okay!" Black Star shouted. "Leave it to me! For our remedial lesson we just need to eliminate these guys?"

"Yup that's pretty much it," Death said.

Tsuna was practically shaking strait off the ground. As if fighting a zombie wasn't bad enough, it had to be a zombie of Sid, someone he knew and liked. "F...fight… Sid?" he stuttered. "I.. I'm not sure I can do that."

"Not to worry Tsuna," Death said. "You and Takeshi have your own remedial lesson to complete."

"What's that?" Takeshi asked.

"There has been a mysterious stranger spotted at the graveyard the last few days," Death informed them. "I'm almost positive he's not the one who turned Sid into a zombie, but his involvement in this is still unclear. I need you to capture him and bring him in for questioning. Now I don't want to put too much pressure on all of you, but if you happen to fail at these remedial lessons, then you're all going to be expelled."

* * *

"Expelled," Tsuna said, half dead as he dragged his feet across the halls. "I'm going to be expelled. So much for seeing great thing in my future. I should have known he said that just to cheer me up."

"Come on Tsuna," Takeshi said. "Look on the bright side. It's not another test, and we're experienced in combat. We'll complete this mission easily."

Hayato came running up alongside them. "Tenth, what's wrong?" he asked.

"I'm going to be expelled," Tsuna said again.

"What!?" Hayato screamed. "What happened?"

"He's over reacting," Takeshi said. "We failed our tests and now we have to complete a remedial lesson. We'll be fine."

"Except the fact that if we fail we'll be expelled," Tsuna said glumly.

"You won't fail!" Hayato intervened. "I won't let that happen! Just leave it to me!"

"What?"

"I'm going to join you and help you complete the mission."

"See Tsuna, nothing to worry about," Takeshi said. "We've got this in the bag."

* * *

The eight of them arrived at the graveyard after dark to look for Sid and the mysterious stranger, or at least that was the plan. However Maka and Tsuna sat under a tree depressed, Soul and Black Star were running around yelling, and Tsubaki was trying to get control of Black Star. The only ones actually keeping an eye out for the two targets were Takeshi, Hayato, and Lambo. Some time passed before a hand popped out of the ground and grabbed Maka's leg and then a being with pale blue skin and empty white eyes rose out from the ground. It had black hair in cornrows, was wearing a white bandana and had a hole in the middle of it's forehead. There was no doubt about it, it was Sid.

"Maka!" Soul called out.

"Are you scared girl?" Sid said, holding a sharp stick. "I think you are." He moved in to stab Maka when Soul transformed in a scythe with a red and black blade and went flying into the ground between Maka and Sid, forcing Sid to drop Maka and back off.

"So that's what Sid's become?" Maka asked.

"Guess so," Soul said.

"Maka, Soul, Black Star, Tsubaki, Takeshi, Tsuna, Hayato, Lambo," Sid called each of their names in turn. "Good morning. good afternoon, good night." Sid lifted his grave out from the ground. "How have you been and all that. I always tried to remember my manners." Sid took a fighting stance, using the gravestone as a weapon. "That's the kind of man I was."

"Tsubaki, let's get ready to end this end this guy," Black Star said.

"Right," Tsubaki said and transformed into a chain scythe.

Tsuna got up and joined Takeshi, Hayato, and Lambo. The four of them looked around and saw a figure lurking in the shadows. "There!" Tsuna called out and right on cue the figure bolted away.

"After him!" Takeshi ordered and the four began chase. However they were blocked by Sid.

"Where do you think you're going?" Sid said and then closed in and started to swing the gravestone at Takeshi. "No skipping class!" Right before it could hit Takeshi the gravestone was wrapped in Tsubaki's chain and Black Star held the stone still.

"How many brain cells did you lose to that statue?" he said. "You should know better that to turn your back on a star as big as me!"

Tsuna and the others took advantage of the opening and dashed after the figure as Sid broke his gravestone free of Tsubaki's chain. By the time he succeeded it was too late. Tsuna's group already escaped and were chasing the mysterious figure.

* * *

Tsuna's group followed the figure to what seem to be a military camp on the outskirts of the city. The figure stopped in front of the tent and turned around. Now that they got a chance to look, they saw that the figure was a man with blond hair and blue eyes. He was wearing a white shirt, flat green military jacket and pants, a military camouflage bandana and he also had a large rifle strapped to his back.

"No more running!" Takeshi yelled.

"Running?" the man said. "Please, if I wanted to escape, there would be nothing you could do to stop me. No I was just luring you away from Sid. I was hired to observe him, but my primary objective is to to keep him alive. Against all eight of you he might have had a problem. But just four he should be able to handle."

"We've been sent to capture you and bring you in for questioning," Takeshi said. "Save yourself the trouble and come quietly."

"Trouble?" the man said. "I don't see any trouble. Then again, let me check." The man looked over to Hayato and Lambo. "Let's see. I see one soul that's hot headed and brash, and another that's relaxed and calm. They may appear to be too different to work together, but on closer inspection is see that there is an unspoken mutual respect of one and other."

"You can see our souls?" Hayato asked.

"Does that mean you're a meister?" Lambo asked.

"No no," the man said. "I've never held a human weapon in my life. No, I just taught myself to see soul because it comes in handy in my line of work. But I will admit that you two are some of the more interesting two I've seen. However, you're not even half as interesting as your friends over there." The man turn towards Takeshi and Tsuna. "I see one soul that is confident and laid back. To be honest it's not that unusual. What is on the other hand is your partner. He possesses a flexible soul with a decently large wavelength. These traits are quite rare and, though it may be weak, it has much potential. Too bad it's overshadowed by all this self doubt. I can't even see any other personality traits over it all. It practically devouring the very soul itself. Now that I've taken a look I can confidently say that none of you can cause me any trouble."

"Just who do you think you are?" Takeshi asked angrily.

"Oh, yes. I forgot to introduce myself, didn't I?" the man said. "I'm the world's greatest mercenary Colonello. And since you let me ramble for so long, I think it's only fair that I let you choose how we should proceed. Fair warning though, if you choose to fight me, I won't hold back. I'll kill every last one of you."

"No," Hayato said as he lifted his arm and Lambo transform into his weapon form and mounted on to Hayato's arm. "You'll try!" He fired at Colonello and Colonello simply sidestepped the attack.

"Wrong choice," Colonello said. He drew his rifle and fired a blue, flame like blast at Hayato. Hayato quickly jumped to the side and fired again.

"Tsuna," Takeshi said, "let's back them up."

"Right," Tsuna replied and transformed into his weapon form. Takeshi grabbed the hilt and charged forward as Colonello sidestepped another of Hayato's blasts. Takeshi slashed at Colonello, who blocked with his rifle and then uppercut Takeshi, knocking him into the air. Colonello then round house kicked Takeshi, sending him flying backwards.

"Lambo, Cloud Tube!" Hayato ordered.

"Got it," Lambo said. Hayato fired what looked like a red laser. Colonello rolled his eyes and sidestepped once again. However once the blast separated into branches and covered a large area.

"What?!" Colonello said and when the blast hit, a there was an explosion, causing a huge dust cloud to form.

Hayato jumped happily. "Got him!"

"A little soon for celebrating," Colonello's voice said from behind Hayato. He turned around and Colonello's fist light up in blue flames. Hayato lifted Lambo's cannon form in the way of the punch, but upon impact he was sent flying. Even Lambo seem to scream in pain. Takeshi charged back in and readied himself to use Shigure Soen's fifth offensive form, Early Summer Rain. He got in range and slashed with his empty hand. As predicted, Colonello tried to block with his gun and Takeshi slashed at the opening. Colonello jumped out of range, lifted his gun and fired, knocking Takshi back several feet.

"You quite skilled with dying will flames," Hayato said, getting up.

"So you know about them," Colonello said.

"I'm part of the Vongola, of course I know about them."

"Is that so. Well knowing about them won't help you much. It's time for you to give up. I'll let you live if you surrender now."

"I'm not even close to done!" Hayato pointed Lambo at the ground and fired, resulting in a large dust cloud. Multiple sticks of dynamite came flying out of the the dust could with trails of smoke behind them. They switched directions mid air and flew straight at Colonello.

"Pathetic," Colonello said and fired a blast at the dynamite, causing it to explode in mid air. Lambo jumped through the resulting dust cloud, with his hands covered in green lightning, and swiped at Colonello. Colonello sidestepped the attack.

"Lightning flames," he said as he dodged another attack. "And you're quite skilled at harnessing their power." Colonello's hand light up in blue flames. "At least, for a beginner." He clenched his hand into a fist and punched Lambo square in the chest. Lambo was sent flying and crashed right into Hayato.

"I'm getting really tired of this," Hayato said as he picked himself off the ground. "Lambo, let's end this now."

"Understood," Lambo said and transformed back into his weapon form.

"Let' go soul resonance!" the two shouted and energy started to build up around them.

"You think I'm just going to stand here and let you do that?" Colonello said, taking aim.

"You forgetting someone?" Takeshi said as he swung Tsuna at Colonello.

Colonello quickly jumped over the swing. "Nice try." He flipped in the air, kicking Takeshi into the air. Colonello landed back onto the ground and pointed his gun at Takeshi. "Maximum Burst!" A bird made of blue flames came shooting out of the barrel and exploded against Takeshi, sending him flying several feet further into the air before crashing back to the ground unconscious.

Tsuna transformed back into his human form and knelt by Takeshi's side. "Takeshi!" he screamed.

"And now," Colonello said pointing his gun at Takeshi and Tsuna, "you die."

"Not so fast!" Hayato interrupted. "I won't let you harm the tenth! Now see the power of the lightning tube resonance. Flame Thunder!" a red laser like beam covered in red lightning shot out of Lambo's cannon form at an incredible speed.

Colonello spun around to face Hayato and Lambo's blast. "Maximum Burst!" he shouted and the same blue bird came shooting out of the gun. The two blast collided and tried to overpower each other. After what seemed like an eternity Colonello's Maximum Burst over powered Hayato and it broke through his Flame Thunder. Upon impact there was a huge explosion and when the dust cleared both Hayato and Lambo were left unconscious.

Being the last one standing, Tsuna looked around horrified. 'We're going to die,' he thought and he felt his forehead grow hot, just like his fight with Hayato, but it was much more intense than ever before. He got up to face Colonello who had a surprised look on his face. 'If I'm going down, I'm taking him with me!' "I'll defeat you with my dying will!" His arms transformed into blades and his body seemed to move on it's own. He charged forward and slashed at Colonello who jumped out of the way but Tsuna refused to give him an opening and continued to attack. His arm blades light up in orange flames and Colonello's face grew even more surprised.

"You're able to use dying will flames without any training?" Colonello said. "You seem to be doing it from sheer force of will. And to be able to call on this much power, I must say I'm impressed. However," Colonello's gun light up in blue flames and he use it to block Tsuna's attacks, "you lack control." The blue flames grew in size and Colonello pushed Tsuna back before punching him into the air with a fist cover in blue flames.

'Even with this power,' Tsuna thought, 'I couldn't win.' Colonello jumped into the air and kicked Tsuna back to the ground. Before Colonello started to fall, he took aim at Tsuna. "Maximum Burst!" Colonello shouted before the blue bird shot out of the gun once more. It hit Tsuna and exploded and once Tsuna could see again, he found himself unable to move as Colonello slowly walked towards him. Suddenly, Takeshi jumped in between them.

"Stop! I won't let you hurt him!" Takeshi shouted.

"No Takeshi," Tsuna said weakly.

"A meister giving up his life to protect his weapon?" Colonello said. "I think you have it backwards. Doesn't your school teach that a weapon should protect his meister at all costs?"

"I don't care!" Takeshi said. "I won't let you hurt my friend!"

Colonello smiled. "In that case," he put his rifle back onto his back, "You pass."

"W… What?" Takeshi said.

"You protected your partner. People shouldn't get so hung up on meister or weapon. You're partners, and need to protect each other."

"Let me say this again. What?"

"You passed your remedial lesson. I was in on it from the beginning."

"The why did you try to kill us!?"

"Please, I'm the world's greatest mercenary. If I wanted you dead, you'ld be dead. Don't worry about the injuries, they should heal up in about a day or so."

Tsuna, Hayato and Lambo slowly got back to their feet and limped over to Colonello and Takeshi. "Then what was the point of this!?" the all asked at once.

"It was to assess your strength," Colonello said. "And I must say you've impressed me. Hayato, Lambo, you two show great promise with your strategies but you need to work on your skill. Takeshi, you have much skill but you need to realize that your own strange isn't always enough. You need to stop charging in without a second thought. And you Tsuna," Tsuna tensed up, "I will confess that when I first saw you I thought you were holding Takeshi back."

"I know," Tsuna said softly.

"However, now I know that's not true. The one you're holding back is you. You need to stop doubting yourself."

Tsuna looked up in confusion. "I'm holding myself back?"

"Yes, you can't grow stronger if you keep thinking you're too weak to improve."

"That's what I've been saying," Takeshi said.

"Well it's late," Colonello said. "You all should head home. Or you can spend the night in my bunker.

"Yeah, no thanks," the four said in unison.

* * *

Tsuna's group met up with Maka's group the next day and began to talk. "So how'd your remedial lesson go?" Tsuna asked.

"We fought a psycho scientist who passed us for protecting each other. You?"

"We fought a psycho mercenary who passed us for protecting each other."

There was silence for a few moments. "I'm gonna kill Death," all eight said at once.

"Okay class," Spirit said after taking homeroom attendance. "That extra study hall in your schedule is now being replaced by the intended class. The class will be explained by the teachers. Please report to your assigned classrooms.

* * *

Tsuna and Takeshi made it to one star soul science and talked to Maka and Soul for a while." I wonder if they hired a new teacher to replace Sid yet." Soul said. "Hey maybe your dad will be our teacher again."

"No anyone but him!" Maka said.

Suddenly a man with gray hair, yellow eyes behind a pair of glasses, a screw in his head, a white lab coat on and a theme of stiches all over his clothes and body came rolling into the room on an office chair. The chair tipped on the metal saddle of the door frame and both the chair and him spun around on the floor. Once he stopped spinning he opened a textbook on the ground like nothing happened. "Alright class are we ready to get started?" he said casually.

"This isn't funny," Soul said.

"This might be the first time… I've actually wanted to see my father," Maka said.

"Psycho scientist?" Tsuna and Takeshi asked at once.

"Psycho scientist," Maka and Soul confirmed. And with that, Dr. Franken Stein became their new teacher.

* * *

Tsuna and Takeshi walked out to the training field and waited for class to start. What they didn't expect was for Colonello to walk out onto the field. "Alright, I'm the new combat instructor," he said. "You can call me Colonello."

"This has to be some kind of crime," Tsuna said.

* * *

Tsuna walked into the new class and he had a feeling that the day was about to even worse. "Hey Tsuna," Maka called out from behind him.

"Oh hi Maka," Tsuna said.

"Seems we have another class together." Takeshi said.

"Seems so," Soul said.

"We met you psycho mercenary," Maka said as the walked to their seats.

"Yeah, this has to be some sort of crime," Tsuna said complaining. The bell rang and a man wearing a black suit walked in. "No."

"Hello class, and welcome to one star dying will flames," the man said. "I am…"

"Reborn!" Tsuna shouted.

"You know him?" Soul asked.

"You could say that," Tsuna said.

"He's the guy who kicked Tsuna out the window," Takeshi said.

"What!?" both Maka and Soul yelled.

To Be Continued...

Author's note: I want to thank those who left reviews. Seeing the opinions of my readers is one of the few things that keep me going. To address a few reviews, to the guest that went by JustASimlpeHuman, while I can't guarantee that I won't take a long hiatus (I'm juggling a lot right now) I do not have any intention of discontinuing any of my stories. I will finish them even if it kills me! Next, to the guest that went by YCG, yes I plan on doing the ring battles, but I'm still not sure how. Still trying to figure out who's meisters and who's weapons on the Varia side. Not to mention the fact that their cloud guardian was a robot. Hard to work with that. As for Chrome and Mukuro, you'll just have to wait and find out. Now, for the rest of you, if I didn't make myself clear, please, please, please review. LIke I said, nothing inspires me more than hearing from all of you.


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